A Change of Scenery For Me
by LBCwriter562
Summary: AU: Cloud and Roxas decide to leave a troubled life in LA behind for a new one in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Can Roxas deal with and adjust to the new life and surroundings of a typical Québécois? Axel x Roxas, AkuRoku, some strong language, use of French
1. Prologue: De Los Angeles à Montréal

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor anything associated with the series… I'm just writing a story here using elements from the game, that's all, so no suing me… merci :-P

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_For the best viewing possible (and to ease any eye-strain), I'd recommend using the adjustment tools on the upper right and using the biggest font size with a dark background and the spacing between lines as far as possible =) _

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**Author's Note: **This is going to be a somewhat (well I don't know about that) dark, angsty-ish AU with some strong language, adult situations, and some yaoi a.k.a. homosexual elements in it, so turn back now if that's not how you roll or basically not your cup of tea. For now it's rated T, but it may go up very soon, so you may have to adjust your browsers to see higher ratings.

Also, some elements in this story have been fictionalized so don't go all crazy on me if you see something absurd or if it doesn't exist like places, things, etc.

Okay that's all =)

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Sixteen-year-old Roxas Strife drearily gazed out the window of the white Nissan Murano that his older brother, Cloud, was driving while listening to some All American Rejects on his iPod. With his elbow resting on the door ledge and his head resting on his hand, all that the little blond could see was the green countryside dotting the landscape. He had been in the SUV for days now, traveling from Los Angeles to…

"Where the hell are we exactly right now?" Roxas grunted out, irritability evident in his voice.

Cloud eyed his little brother from the corner of his right eye. "Damn, why are you still in such a pissy mood after all this time?"

Roxas didn't even bother to reply to his brother's comment, so Cloud decided to continue on anyways.

"You've been like this since we've left L.A., through the Rockies and Midwest, and at the Canadian border. Now you've done it through pretty much of Ontario. What's wrong?"

Of course Roxas could only annoying sigh. "Can you just answer my question already?"

Cloud sighed discontently, knowing there was no use in getting through his brother… well not at least until they get to their final destination. "We're in Quebec now," Cloud pointed at the little blue monument thingy with the words _Bienvenue_ and _Québec_ on it, complete with a lily flower and a flag that had a white cross with four flower-looking icons on each partition on the side of the highway.

"'Bi—… en—… ve—… nu— e…?" Roxas tried to pronounce the strange looking, not-so-English word.

"That's pronounced _bee-unh-veh-new_, thus _bienvenue_," Cloud chuckled, ruffling the spiky blonde hair of the angry teenager in the passenger seat. He was unperturbed when it was slapped away. "That means _welcome_."

"In what language?"

"French."

Roxas widened his eyes when he could've sworn his brother said _French_. "Wait! Uh—… you said _French_ right?"

"Uh, yeah… so?"

"What the fuck? I thought they spoke English here in Canada!"

"They do, Rox," Cloud tried to calm the nerves of an incensed Roxas. "But Canada is officially bilingual and they speak French here too. Especially in the province of Quebec where French is the official language."

"Well _excuse _my 'French', but… what the hell dude?" Roxas glared at his older brother while accusingly pointing his finger towards him. "I don't speak a word of French! And your not even fluent, Cloud!"

"Well yeah, I know…" The older blonde adjusted his frame in the driver's seat, making sure his butt didn't fall asleep on him. "But I'm getting special language fluency training at the new job I've landed. You, on the other hand, have to take an immersion class at your new school."

"Great… just absolutely bloody great…" Roxas shifted his body so that he wouldn't be facing Cloud anymore.

Sure he couldn't put 100-percent of the blame on Cloud, since it was his older brother who made the sacrifice of moving the both of them out of the poor neighborhood they once lived in Los Angeles. In the old life, Roxas was getting into so much trouble with gangs, drugs, sex, prostitution, and other juvenile delinquency. Originally, the teenager was never involved in that sort of life as he was an above average student who had a decent amount of good friends and stayed out of trouble. That all turned around though with the sudden death of his parents in a fatal automobile accident on a stormy night near Topanga Canyon. Since then Cloud had to take care of the duty of raising his younger brother. Since the cost of living was astronomically high in Southern California and the lack of decent paying jobs for Cloud to obtain, the elder Strife deemed it necessary that it was time for a change...

…And landed a great job opportunity in Montreal, Quebec.

And so here were the two Strifes, making the long trek from the West Coast of the United States to all the way near the Eastern part of Canada.

"Awww, c'mon Rox," Cloud tried to pat Roxas' shoulder, but was once again denied when the younger Strife jerked away in vexation. "It'll be fun to live within a new culture and be able to speak another language. And besides… I hear that the ladies love a dude who speaks some _français_…"

"I'd rather cut my wrist with a big fat butcher knife then do that," Roxas solemnly replied.

Cloud just sighed at the notion, already used to his younger brother's _emo-like _remarks and tendencies. "Whatever…"

Silence dominated the car as Cloud continued to drive on the highway towards the _Île de Montréal_, or Island of Montréal, with Roxas attempting to read all of the French-labeled road signs along the way. After about an hour after they crossed the Ontario-Quebec border, signs of civilization become more and more apparent.

"Take Autoroute 20 East towards Dorval," the GPS commanded as Cloud complied, reading and following the overhead sign to Autoroute 20. They soon passed through the affluent suburbs of Baie d'Urfé, Beaurepaire, Beaconsfield, and Pointe-Claire before reaching their final exit about twenty minutes later.

"Take the Dorval Avenue exit and turn right," Cloud did just that and they found themselves right into the city of Dorval.

Roxas took a gaze around as they passed by a shopping centre, shops along the street, and some residential compounds. Aside from the French posted signs and universal pictogram road signs that he has never seen before, the Roxas had the impression the city was your run-of-the mill basic suburb of Montreal.

"Don't be intimidated with all of the French signs, Rox," Cloud tried to reassure his brother as he turned right onto Dawson Avenue. "I heard this city has a lot of English speaking people, so there's not much need to worry about."

"Whatever…" Roxas sighed as he continued his observation of the town. "Then what does that _no parking _sign with the words '_LUN au VEN: 15h à 17h_' mean?"

"Don't have a clue aside from no parking…"

"Jeez, I'm not surprised…" Roxas folded his arms to his chest while Cloud just simply sighed in discontent.

Approximately in less than two minutes, they arrived at a small apartment building with a brick façade exterior, which would be the Strife's new residence. Yup, here is where Roxas would start his new Canadian life.

The two were greeted with the warm and somewhat humid air of an early summer's evening. Looking around as they made their way to the front of the building, the neighborhood seemed pretty quiet and peaceful with locals walking leisurely around the street and kids playing on the nearby playground, some shouting in English and others in French. Eventually, the two blondes made it to the landlord's unit.

"I'll be right back, Rox," Cloud opened the door to the interior hallway of the apartment complex. "I still need to fill out a few more things before getting the keys to our new place. Could you start taking out some of our bags from the back? And also take the airbeds since we don't have furniture." He tossed the keys towards Roxas, barely catching the clump of metal.

"Hmph…" was the only reply that came out of Roxas' mouth.

"Ugh, please Rox—"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Just go already! Jesus…" Roxas muttered as he began to lethargically stroll towards back to the Nissan.

Cloud sighed, but just simply walked in so that he could get the keys to the place.

Meanwhile, Roxas just looked up to they sky, wishing that he had not gone on this new life adventure with his brother… like he had a choice anyways.

"Ugh... where is my life going these days? I don't get a say on what I want to do or where I want to go. Now I have to deal with being in a totally new culture with a new language and new pe— OOOMMMPPPHHH!"

A flash of brunette suddenly pushed down Roxas onto the grassy ground. The blonde was now looking up at a spiky-haired brunette with deep blue eyes that looked to be about the same age as him. For some reason, this boy reminded of himself… like some sort of reflection.

"Oh, désolé mon pote…" The brunet had a goofy smile on his face while he scratched the back of his head. "Je te vois pas ici."

The blonde, who was still trying to recover from the sudden impact, shook his head side to side for a few seconds before realizing that the dude was straddling on his hips. Talk about an awkward position to be in.

"Pardonne-moi, mais je pense pas que je t'aie jamais rencontré avant. T'es nouveau ici?" The spiky brunette gazed down on the blonde confusingly.

"Huh?" Roxas gazed back with bewilderment on his face, not knowing how to reply to this dude who probably knew only French.

_I thought Dorval was supposed to have a lot of English speakers. _

"Haha… Dude, I'm guessing you don't speak a word of French… am I right?"

Roxas widened his eyes even more. He could've sworn that he'd just heard the world's thickest French-Canadian accent… but now the dude on top of him spoke super perfect English, as if he was from the United States.

"Uh… no, I don't…"

"Eh, it's all good…" The brunette still remained on top of the blond. "My name is Sora Leonhart."

"Roxas Strife."

"Nice to meet you, _Roxy_. Welcome to our neighbourhood in Dorval!" Sora smiled wholeheartedly, energy present in his voice.

"Same here," Roxas replied, but of course he tried to hide his blush and hatred for being called _Roxy_, a nickname he totally despised from everyone he knew. Now was Sora going to pick up on that as well? "Uh Sora… could you do me one huge favor?"

_Like now before I get like uh… boner…_

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Um… Could you get off of me… 'cuz like… you know…" Roxas tried to find words to explain the awkward situation they were in, but failed miserably.

Sora, trying to figure out what Roxas was trying to tell him, finally figured it all out when he felt a slight… poke… on his bottom. "Crisse de tabarnak! My bad, Roxas!" Sora quickly got off of Roxas, trying to fight down a blush of crimson red seeking to seep onto his face, the blond as well doing the same.

"Sorry about that Sora…" Roxas lolled his head to the side for a bit.

_Great… now he thinks I'm some horny ass dude wanting to get some from him…_

"Nah, it's cool…" Sora extended his hand out to pick up Roxas from the ground. He also picked up the Frisbee he tried to catch as well. "So, where are you from?"

"Los Angeles," Roxas quickly replied.

"No way! L.A.?" Sora became ecstatic since this was the first time he's ever met someone from California. "So, you're from the States? California especially? Well, I guess welcome to Canada and Quebec as well, eh?"

"Uh… thanks?" Roxas awkwardly replied as Sora made him slap hands with each other.

_Heh, looks like I've made a new friend? _

"Sora?" A man's voice bellowed out from a nearby window in the apartment building. "Reviens ici maintenant!"

"Ugh…" Sora sighed. "J'y irai une minute." He then returned to look back at Roxas. "I gotta go… my older brother, Leon, just wants to bug me with stuff to do… So what are you up to right now?"

"I gotta unpack the stuff from my car," Roxas pointed towards the Murano.

"Oh okay, well I'll come back and help you if the shit I have to do doesn't take long."

"Oh no, it's okay. It's only a few things, anyways," the blond reassured the brunet.

"Okay, well we could chill later if you want. I can show you around and introduce you to my friends."

"Sounds cool, I guess…" Roxas shook his head, putting on a fake smile on his face.

"MAINTENANT SOOORRRAAAA!"

"Okay, okay! À plus, Roxas!" Sora began to run towards the apartment building. "Oh, that means like _later, dude_."

"Haha, gotcha… _À plus_ to you as well," Roxas waved off as Sora went inside. He then proceeded to walk towards the car to retrieve some off the stuff.

_Looks like this will be one hell of an adventure for me… Maybe it won't bring me happiness, but I sure as hell won't be bored… I guess…_

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**Post Author's Note: **At the end of each chapter from the next one and so forth, there will be a section dedicated to the translations of certain French words or phrases that have not been translated within the story or if contextual guessing will not bring justice, so for all those Francophone-challenged readers, you will not be left out in the dark =)

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_Yeah, yeah, you must be asking, "Where's the angsty-ness?" It'll be there soon, but for now, I'm just introducing everything to the story. _

_And don't jump to conclusions; I intend this story to be AkuRoku…_

_And to those who know French already: I am not the best in French, but if it looks like I am purposely misspelling stuff or leaving out important grammatical things, it's because I am trying to write out informal French instead of the things you learn in school. But if you see a super-duper error, just let me know._

_Also if you are Canadian and/or from Quebec, I would greatly appreciate it if you can give me any suggestions about the culture, life, hang outs, etc. in and around Montreal? Thanks :D_

_**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! **_

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**Quick French Pronunciation Lesson**

- Words ending in _-er _like **parler **are pronounced like "ey" like in "hey"

- Words ending in _-ere_ such as **première **are pronounced like "air"

- Words ending in _-ai(s) _such as **Portugais **are pronounced like "ey" as well

- Words ending in _-eau _such as **Barbeau **are pronounced like a long O, like "Oooooooohhhh"

- Words with the letter combo _gn _like **Espagnol **are pronounced like "ny" like in "canyon" (this is similar to the **_ñ _**sound in Spanish, like **piñata**)

- General rule of thumb: never pronounce the last letter in a word unless it has an accent (ex: **é**). Examples: **marche **sounds like "marsh", but **marché** sounds like "mar-shay"


	2. La Famille de Leonhart

**Author's Note: **I'm so glad that there are readers out there taking an interest in this story. That will inspire me to write more so that I can give you all the best story I can possibly make! Thank you so much once again and thank you for the reviews. Don't forget to spread the word of this fic.

Also remember that content will get stronger and I will have to up the rating, so once again please adjust your browsers accordingly so that you will be able to keep reading this fic.

Also I still have intentions to keep this story AkuRoku so PLEASE don't jump into any conclusions :P

And a random fact: I've studied French for five non-consecutive years (4 in high school and I took AP French, but did miserable on the AP test) and just started taking it again in college.

Okay, that's all. Enjoy Chapter 2!

=D

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"Well that does about the last of it," Cloud sighed in relief after dropping the last set of boxes onto the carpet. Though it only took approximately less than hour to get all of the stuff out of the car, combined that with their long ass of a journey through the States and one big Canadian province, Roxas and Cloud were definitely tired.

"I guess so…" Roxas began to observe the surroundings of their new apartment. It was a fairly small, but decent living unit. He was currently standing in the middle of their medium-sized living room (_le salon _according to Cloud from the landlord). From the perspective of their foyer, to the left lay a small yet cozy kitchen (_la cuisine _again from Cloud) with the basic appliances and space for a small dining table. Straight ahead through the sliding glass doors, one would be at the small patio. When the blond gazed to his right, a very small hallway was to be seen with three sets of doors. Two were the bedrooms (_la chambre_to Cloud) and one was for the bathroom (_la salle de bains)_. Yup, he concluded that it was your run-of-the-mill basic apartment.

Cloud, feeling the exhaustion throughout his body, let an exaggerating yawn escape through his mouth and sat down on the floor, his back lying on the side of one of the boxes. "I'm going to take a quick lil' nap before we decide where to go out for dinner. Care to join?"

Roxas simply stretched out his back before replying. "Nah, I'm gonna go out back and have a smoke."

Cloud raised one of his eyebrows in concern to what he just heard. "Roxy, I thought you've decided to quit smoking cigarettes back in Toronto."

_Uh… no I didn't…_

The younger Strife screwed his eyes shut at the sound of his nickname being said, but then simply shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, don't worry about it Cloud… I will… eventually…" Such a lie he just told.

"Let's hope so…" The elder Strife softly said before drifting off to sleep.

Roxas began to dig through his luggage, looking for that carton of bliss he's been long craving for since the last one he had was when they stopped in Toronto.

"Sweet…" A smile crept onto his face when he stared at the blue-coated box of Kool menthol cigarettes. Grabbing the lighter next to it, the little blond made his way to the small patio via the glass sliding doors. He pulled out a stick and flicked the lighter on until the end of the stick was lit. He then proceeded to put it in his mouth, inhaling deeply, before pulling it out and exhaling out the smoke, a feeling of cool satisfaction and fulfillment of menthol filling throughout his entire body. "God, that felt so satisfy—"

"Tu fumes une _drag_, j'vois…"

Roxas suddenly jumped at the unexpected voice invading his thought-to-be private time for himself. He turned around, seeing the ever-so-familiar brunet he had just met earlier.

"Oh, it's just you Sora…" Roxas sighed in relief.

"Scared you, didn't I?" A smile was painted on the brunet's face as he chortled.

"Fuck yeah, you did!" The blond seemed a bit pissed at the sudden intrusion, but then dropped it as he took in another inhale of tobacco.

"Hahaha, sorry about that dude. Guess they forgot to tell you that your next-door neighbour shares these patios with you as well… so I guess that makes you my new neighbour. Awesome!" Sora gave a thumbs-up to a confused Roxas. "Mind if I have a drag as well?" Roxas raised an eyebrow when he heard the request. He didn't think someone like Sora smoked cigarettes… although it's also bad to judge a book by its cover.

"You smoke?"

"Heh, _quelle surprise, n'est-ce pas_?" Sora shrugged his shoulders, with Roxas still trying to comprehend what the blue-eyed teen said, though the word _surprise_ sort of put the two-and-two together, despite the difference in pronunciation.

So as requested, Roxas pulled out another cig from the carton and handed it to Sora. The Leonhart then put it in his mouth, motioning the Strife to light the cig with the lighter, in which he did. The brunet then took a deep breath as well, taking out the cig and exhaling the menthol out of his lungs, a smile on his face as well right after.

"C'était comme le ciel… comme mon nom, hehehehe…" Sora tee-heed after the smoke cleared up, yet another bright smile on his face.

"I take it that you must've loved that, no?" Roxas couldn't help but to smile a bit as well, a rarity for the blond as one might say.

"Yup yup…" Sora and Roxas continued to smoke until the both finished the stick of tobacco and flicked it somewhere away from the patio. "Anyways, I gotta get back to my place. This was only my break and older brother wants me to help him spruce up the place."

"Aight then," Roxas looked upwards at the upstairs neighbour's balcony before gazing back at Sora's blue eyes. "Ummm… à plus, I guess…"

"À plus mon pote…" Sora began to walk through the sliding glass doors that led to his apartment unit. "Oh yeah, I was just thinking…"

"Yeah, watzup?" Roxas averted his attention back on Sora, assuming he had something important to say.

"I was wondering if you and your brother wanted to have dinner at our place tonight, as it is your first day here in Dorval. My brother insisted that you two come over and eat."

Roxas thought about the proposal for a moment. It was true that it was their first day here… and since they really don't have anything unpacked and wasn't sure where they were going to eat tonight, the blond thought it would be best to take up the offer on other people cooking for them, just for tonight.

"Sure Sora, sounds good."

"Cool!" Sora almost jumped for joy on that reply.

_Heh, must reflect his personality._

"We start dinner at 8:00 tonight. Be there!" Sora walked in back to his apartment unit, with Roxas doing the same to his right after.

_This should be a rather interesting night…_

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Before going over to Sora's place for dinner, Roxas decided to take a quick shower since he smelled like shit from moving all the boxes earlier. After getting out and running into his room with only a towel wrapped around his slim waist, he began to take out clumps of clothes on deciding what to wear. He decided that a black and white checkered shirt and tight black jeans would be tonight's wear. He quickly slid on his boxers to finally cover his exposed crotch. He put on the rest of his clothes before pulling out a pair of checkered socks. The blonde then went back into the bathroom to blow-dry and work on his hair.

After about half an hour of working on his hair, which was spiky and had his bangs cover his left eye, Roxas proceeded to brush his teeth, put on the pair of checkered-studded earrings on his ear lobes, and last but not least, sported on his checkered armband on his wrist. Yep he was all set and ready to go out.

"Roxas, are you ready yet?" Cloud called out from the living room.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be there in a sec." Roxas went in front of the mirror on his closet door. Though he didn't want to admit, he definitely looked _hello emo _right now.

_Yeah… I thought so…_

The younger Strife proceeded to put on his usual pair of beat-up black and white chucks and a black zip-up before stepping out to the living room.

"Goddamn… someone's all emo-ed out tonight…" Cloud laughed as he just got a scoff in return.

"Whatever…" Roxas stepped out of the front door before Cloud was able to. The elder Strife locked the door before the two proceeded to head next door, which was only a mere four steps away. Roxas took the liberty of knocking.

"What are their names again?" Cloud asked, hoping not to make a fool out of himself by not knowing or mixing up their neighbour's names.

"They are the Leonharts," Roxas dully replied. "The younger one is Sora and the older one, whom I have yet met, is Leon."

"I see…" Cloud was about to say something else until the door quickly opened.

"Roxas!" Sora's hug came as quick as lightning to the said boy. The Leonhart was wearing a dark blue shirt, complete with a pair of stonewashed jeans, a gray zip-up, and a pair of blue chucks. "Quoi de neuf, dude?"

"Ummm… alright I guess…" Roxas assumed he was being asked how he was. "And you?"

"Oh, c'est tiguidou," Sora cheekily replied.

"Uh, that's cool… I guess…" Roxas said, though he was confused on what the spiky brunet had just voiced out. After being let go of the Sora's death grip, he pointed towards his older brother at his side. "Oh, Sora, this is my older brother, Cloud Strife."

"Nice to meet you!" Sora shook hands with the elder Strife.

"Same to you," Cloud smiled as he shook it back.

"Well come on in!" Sora gestured the Strifes into the apartment, following them both in until he closed the door. "Bienvenue chez moi, I guess, hehehe…"

Roxas took the time to look around the Leonhart's apartment. It was pretty much the same style unit they lived in, but only more cozy and comfortable with furniture, knick-knacks, and more.

"Nice digs you got here…" Cloud said as he began to slightly walk around a bit.

"Meh, I guess so…" Sora replied.

"Sora?" A man's voice called out from one of the bedrooms. "Qui est à la porte?"

"Les voisins, Leon!" Sora called out towards the room. And in a matter of seconds, a tall, brunet haired man emerged out from the bedroom, dressed in a white polo shirt and a pair of jeans. He looked to be roughly the same age as Cloud. "Cloud and Roxas, this is my older brother, Squall Leonhart, but you can call him Leon. Leon, j'te présent nos voisins, Cloud et Roxas Strife."

"Hey, how are you two doing?" Leon shook hands with the two Strifes, speaking with yet a perfect English accent just like Sora.

"Nice to meet you," Roxas flatly, but politely replied.

However, Cloud was on another planet as he stared at the brunet with much… interest…

"Uh, Cloud?" Roxas tried to shake his older brother out of his stupor.

"Huh? Wha—" Cloud almost blushed crimson red as he saw Leon in front of him with his hand still stuck out, waiting for a handshake. "C'—… c'—… c'est u—… un pla—… plaisir, Leon…" he softly yet slowly uttered.

Roxas raised an eyebrow, wondering where the hell Cloud got that phrase form. He was even more confused on what Leon did right after.

"J'te dis la même chose…" Leon huskily said while he winked an eye.

Everyone in the room just stood their ground for the moment, silence heard all around.

"Um… awkwarrrrrrd…" Sora tried to break the silence by lightening the mood, but did not help one bit.

"Uh, so yeah… what are we having tonight?" Roxas jumped in, to much of Sora's relief.

"Ce soir, la cuisine italienne."

"Um… Italian food?" Roxas tried to comprehend.

"Haha, yeah…" Sora scratched the back of his head before heading into the kitchen to sit down at the table.

"Oh yeah…" Leon seemed to finally snap out of it. "Why don't you two take your seats at the table with Sora. I just got to put the spaghetti together."

"Puis-je vous aider?" Cloud asked to Leon, getting another eye not only from Roxas, but Sora as well.

"Non, merci, but thanks though…" Leon smiled. "It'll only take a few minutes."

Sora knocked on the table to get Roxas' attention, who was sitting across from him.

"Dude, I thought you said your brother couldn't speak French."

"I did. And he doesn't…" Roxas simply shrugged his shoulders in confusion. "I don't have the slightest clue where he's getting these phrases from…"

"Riiiggghhhttt…" Sora mocked Roxas before the food was being set down on the table. After Leon took his seat, which was across from Cloud, the four of them began to eat the variety of Italian dishes set in front of them.

"So…" Leon took another bit of his garlic bread before continuing. "What brings you guys up here to Montreal, Quebec, Canada?"

Cloud decided to take up the question. "Well, things weren't exactly going as picture perfect in our old neighborhood back in Los Angeles… So I decided that we needed change to make our lives better… And so I ended up landing a wonderful job at the Bank of Montreal in Downtown Montreal. And so here we are…" The elder Strife pointed at the younger one. "Ready to start off a new life here with my lil' bro." Said boy simply rolled his eyes.

"Oh, that's good. Glad to hear that!" Leon smiled… but not with just any ordinary smile. "If you guys need help, ask us anytime!" The elder Leonhart ruffled the younger one's hair.

"Merci beaucoup!" Cloud smiled right back as he and everyone else continued to eat. A few minutes later, Cloud posed a question for Leon. "So, have you two lived in Quebec all your lives?"

"Actually no…" Leon slurped up the last of his spaghetti. "Sora and I are originally from Destiny Islands."

"Destiny Islands?" Roxas inputted his voice. "Really nice place…"

"Yeah… it sure was…" Leon began to doze off in sentimental memories before waking back up into reality. "But with all that political and social instability you guys probably know about that happened a few years back, and with our parents falling victim to the crisis, I decided to immigrate up to Canada with Sora. We first lived in Ottawa. Then a job transfer moved us here to Montreal. We used to live in Montréal-Est (Montreal East), but since I want Sora to maintain his English speaking abilities, we moved here to Dorval where there are more Anglophones around on the _Île de Montréal_… like you guys for example, even though it's your first day here."

"Ah, I see," Cloud simply replied before finishing off his plate. "Where do you work at?"

"I'm a paralegal for a law office in the Pierrefonds area of Montreal."

"Ah, I see."

After everyone at the table finished their plates, Sora and Leon began to put all of the dirty plates into the sink. The two then brought back bowls of sea salt ice cream.

"Oh, these look good," Cloud carefully observed the blue-coated ice cream.

"It's sea salt ice cream," Sora pointed out.

"_Sea Salt _ice cream?" Roxas looked confused, a bit worried about taking a bite.

"Yeah, it's really good!" Sora tried to get the worried blond to eat it. "Don't worry, tu barfes pas!"

Roxas once again looked at the strange blue-coloured ice cream. He sighed as he picked up the spoon and took a small scoop of it. He then proceeded to put it in his mouth. "Mmmm… pretty good…"

"See, j'te ai déjà dit!" Sora stuck out his tongue before digging into his bowl with everyone else.

"So how much do you know about Canada?" Leon decided to inquire to the Strifes for more conversation.

"Not very much…" Cloud had to admit.

"I guess we can start throwing out random stuff then…" Leon chuckled as he took another scoop of ice cream.

"Oh yeah, like for example, we use the metric system," Sora stated.

"We'd figure that with the road signs…" Roxas blandly replied.

"D'ac…" (_note: 'd'ac' is a contraction of 'd'accord')_ "Hmm… well did you know that Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Canada?" Sora also suggested.

"Really?" Cloud became interested.

"I though she was the Queen of England…" Roxas took another heaping spoon of ice cream.

"Mais bien sûr et aussi she is the Queen of Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, and all those other Commonwealth countries…"

"Well I'll be damned..." Cloud chortled.

"Yup, so you'll see a picture of her when you go into libraries and governmental institutions and such. Hmmm… also we have a Prime Minister instead of a President like you guys have down in the States."

"Who is it?" Cloud questioned.

"Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party… that damn bastard…"

"… Okay… I see…" Cloud simply nodded.

"Oh, do you guys know _O' Canada_?" Leon began to take everyone's empty bowls into the sink.

Both Strifes nodded their heads to the side.

"Sora, chante-le," Leon asked his younger brother… to apparently sing O' Canada.

"Et pourquoi? Je veux pas!" Sora pouted.

"Just do it, Sora…"

"Yeah, cuz you like to embarrass me in front of other people…"

"I'll give you money…"

Sora sighed before finally giving in. "D'ac… d'ac… je le fais…" It wasn't that Sora wasn't patriotic or anything… but he loathed the fact that Leon would do anything to make him look like a weirdo in front of other people. Clearing his throat, Sora began to sing (rather unenthusiastically):

–

_Ô Canada! _

_Terre de nos aïeux, ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux! _

_Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, il sait porter la croix!_

_Ton histoire est une épopée._

_Des plus brillants exploits. _

_Et ta valeur, de foi trempée._

_Protégera nos foyers et nos droits ._

_Protégera nos foyers et nos droits._

–

"Bravo! Bravo!" Leon began to applaud. Cloud and Roxas couldn't help it but to applaud as well.

"You soooo owe me big time bro…" Sora said as he began to sit down, crimson red.

"Say Sora, why don't you show Roxas your room while I talk to Mr. Strife over here," Leon suggested.

"D'ac… allons-y Roxas…" Sora motioned for Roxas to follow him. Soon enough, the two teenaged boys were in Sora's room.

From Roxas' observation, the somewhat brighter colours of the décor in comparison to what the blond would use for his room definitely reflected Sora's personality. There were many random things strewn out such as posters from various bands, pictures of him and his friends, a Canadian flag, random art pieces, etc.

"Nice room..." Roxas still took in his surroundings before flopping down onto Sora's blue bed.

"Eh, it's okay, I guess…" Sora meekly replied before going into his closet to dig around for a few things.

"Oh, and uh, hehehe, nice rendition of _O' Canada _back at the dining table…" Roxas just had to add in his two-cents.

"Ha… ha… ha…" Sora laughed before getting the items he needed and closed the closet door. "So ready to have some fun?"

"Like what?" The blond inquired. "Got any games or stuff like that?"

"Eh, you'll see…"

"Okay…" Meanwhile, Roxas continued to stare onto the ceiling, just lost in thoughts. Who knew that one could think of so much while staring into a bottle of Smirnoff and two sticks of—

_What the fuck!_

"Haha, didn't expect this now, did you?" Sora began to wave the items in his hands in front of his hand.

"Where the hell did you get those things?" Roxas looked a bit worried, though he was sure as hell tempted to partake in the things Sora had held in his hands.

_I thought the point of this whole adventure was to get away from those… now I'm falling back into it… Damn… so tempting…_

"Are those— are those—" Roxas tried to croak out.

Sora couldn't help but to deviously smirk, though it still looked like a goofy smile he had on. "Mais oui Roxas... ça c'est une bouteille de vodka et des joints…"

–

* * *

"_So where the hell is Axel still?" _

Don't worry, don't worry… he WILL be introduced in the next chapter, I promise!

Also I may not be able to update in awhile due to upcoming midterms and other stuff, so don't think I fell off the face of the planet. I will try to update soon… as long as the reviews keep coming in :D

_**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**_


	3. On va s'amuser, eh?

**Author's Note #1:** First off, THIS FIC IS NOW RATED **M! **Be sure to adjust your browsers so that you can continue to read and receive updates. Second, I am very flattered and grateful that there are many of you out there visiting and taking up the time to read and subscribe for updates with this story, but I really need your help out there! And one way is to leave reviews! Without them, I have no idea whether or not you all like what I have written or if something needs to be changed, etc. So I highly encourage (and sorta… beg… :-p) for you to leave a review after each chapter. Suggestions are ALWAYS welcomed.

Otherwise, thank you all for continuing to read about _l'aventure québécoise de Roxas_ (Roxas' Quebec Adventure). Once again, content and language will gradually be stronger, so you've been warned.

And yes, this is still _AkuRoku_, but there will be some… how would you say… playing around… hehehe…

**Author's Note #2: **And also, it has come to my attention with a reviewer (I'd like to thank **Insanecat6 **for bringing this up) and likely many of you out there with the regards of the use of the French language in this fic. Yes, it'll be predominantly in English, despite the setting, but I will be utilizing French here and there just for you readers out there to get the feeling of where Roxas is now (remember, we are in Montreal, Quebec now… well, specifically Dorval in the West Island, but trying to retain the Francophone feeling). For simple words and phrases, I hope that contextual guessing will work. However, for complex phrases, no worries about that… either Sora or someone will translate it within the story or it'll be noted at the end. Remember that I am myself NOT a native Francophone, so complexity will be kept to a low level unless needed, but if there is a word or phrase you still don't understand or are just curious to know of, please don't hesitate to ask and I'll be glad to help out =D At the end of this chapter, there is a mini dictionary of all the phrases mentioned in this chapter.

Lastly, j'aime remercier (I'd like to thank) à **no absolutes **pour son aide avec les références culturelles canadienne et québécoise. Okay, that's all. Enjoy Chapter 3!

=D

–

* * *

Just a few hours ago, life pretty much sucked for the one and only Roxas Strife. Being forced to move from the familiar surroundings of his run-down Los Angeles neighbourhood by his brother, driving nearly across the United States to the Canadian border, and now having to live in the very Francophone province of Quebec and living in the Francophone metropolitan area of Montreal, despite living in heavy-Anglophone Dorval on the West Island.

But now, Roxas was just now in a state of… bliss… inhaling deeply as more cannabis fumes trailed from his mouth and into his lungs, his mind contracting euphoric thoughts.

"Damn Sora…" Roxas stared up at the ceiling while he and Sora were flopped onto the bed. He spoke a little lighter, higher, and slower than usual: definite signs indicating that he was indeed… well… high… "I'd never thought that you… had this side of you… I'd never known… Having Mary Jane's and alkie in your room like that… It's… cool… I'm glad you're my neighbour…" Though Roxas was way out there to realize, he knew that this is what got him into trouble in the first place.

Sora chortled as he took another hit of his joint as well. "Well, tu m'as… connu pour… quatre heures, peut-être…" The brunet giggled again when he felt a light sock to his stomach from the blond.

"There you go again… with your Frrrreeeeennnnccccchhhhh…" The Strife squinted his eyes before realizing that he was thirsty. Holding onto his MJ on one hand, he grabbed the bottle of Smirnoff that was in between Sora and him, propped himself up with his elbow before twisting off the cap and taking a swig of vodka. He smiled even more when he felt the coolness of the alcohol running down his esophagus to his stomach.

"Well… I'm only trying to… help you out here… Roxy…" The Leonhart too propped himself up, doing the exact same thing that the blond had just did, including taking an equally long swig of vodka. Right after he got another small punch to the arm from Roxas for using that name. "Remember… you are in… a Franco—… phone society maintenant…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Roxas waved his hand as he took yet another hit. "And you'll… help me out… right?"

"Bien sûr mec…" Sora tittered once again, reflecting his very bright and happy personality. "I said earlier—… that you've only known me—… for maybe four hours…"

"Oh…" Roxas shook his head ever so slowly in agreement. "I see…"

The two teens continued to lie on the bed for quite awhile, before finishing up the bottle of vodka and Roxas running out of joint.

"Dude, I'm out…" Roxas squinted his eyes onto the remaining stick of cannabis as he discarded it onto an ashtray Sora had on his nightstand.

"Well, I only have… a bit remaining…" Sora held his joint between his index finger and thumb. "T'veux un shottie?"

The blond quickly widened his eyes, a fairly difficult task for him when he was high. "You mean you wanna do a shotgun?"

"Ouais…" The brunet shook his head agreeably.

"Uh… are you sure you're cool with that?" Roxas now laid on his side to face Sora, keeping his right elbow propped up.

"Yeah, c'est cool pour moi…" Sora too lay on his side to face Roxas. "Mais c'est la même chose pour toi?"

_A shotgun is sorta personal… since I would have to get really close to his lips… but I want more…_

"Okay then…" Roxas reluctantly agreed as he began to move his face closer to Sora.

Meanwhile, the burnet put the lit end of his joint into his mouth, making sure his lips only touched the un-burnt part of the joint. He began to deeply inhale, beckoning the blond to come forward to receive the shot. At first, Roxas seemed a bit more reluctant as his blue coloured eyes saw more and more of Sora's own. The blond closed his eyes as his mouth was only a mere centimetre or less from Sora's.

_Don't kiss him… don't kiss him… don't kiss him…_

Sora immediately exhaled his breath into the joint, forcing the smoke from the Mary Jane to travel into Roxas' mouth.

_Oh hell yeah…_

The blond was on cloud nine as he got another heaping dose of cannabis, smiling as the smoke filled his body with ecstasy, his body feeling weak as the joyous sensation caused him to move forward just a bit and…

…his lips brushed onto Sora's.

"Whoa!" Roxas gasped as he suddenly jerked back, snapping out of it a bit when deep crimson red of a blush suddenly rushed onto his face, refusing to look at Sora. "Sorry about that dude… didn't mean to do that…"

"Heh, why are you so worked up dude?" Sora replied nonchalantly as he held the joint in his hand, putting it onto the ashtray. "It's okay, really."

"Are you sure?" Roxas slowly began to return his gaze onto the brunet, the reassurance in his voice being there. "'Cuz I didn't mean anything by that nor do I want to offend you but—"

"J'suis sûr, Roxas! No worries…" Sora continued to smile… a rather high-looking, bubbly smile perhaps.

"I guess so…" The blond sighed and flopped back onto the bed next to the brunet.

_That's what you get when you let your heart win. Whoa!_

_That's what you get when you let your heart win. Whoa..._

_I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating._

_And that's what you get when you let your heart win. Whoa—_

Sora clumsily took out the ringing cell phone out of his pocket. Putting it very closely to his face, he was able to discern on who was calling. "Ah, c'est Riku…"

"Riku? Who's that?" Roxas inquired as he put his hands behind his head.

"Il est mon meilleur ami… well at least one of 'em…" Sora simply replied.

"I see…" The blond eventually figured out what the brunet meant.

"Yo?" Sora spoke into the receiver, high pitched in voice. "Ah Riku! Quoi de neuf, mec? Ah ouais? C'est pas vrai! T'es rigolo!"

Roxas stared back at the ceiling, trying to enjoy the remaining blissful feeling that is now fading away from his body. He continued to listen to Sora converse to one of his friends on the phone _en français_…

_Dude… maybe I should make an effort to learn French… otherwise I'll just be clueless on what's going on here. Hope Sora helps me though…_

"Mmkay... mmkay… bon, j'y vais aller soon. Mmkay, à plus Riku!" Sora pressed the hang up button on his phone. "D'ac Roxas, get ready. We're gonna go meet up with my friends at the park down the street."

"Wait… like right now?" Roxas questioned, still feeling a bit high and intoxicated.

"Uh, yeah…" Sora duly replied. "Wait… you're not afraid of leaving the apartment high and slightly drunk, are you?"

_Hell no, I'm not! _

Roxas would've not even take a second to just go out and have some fun while in his current condition. But ever since he's arrived in Dorval, he's been constantly second-guessing himself to do something before hand… his conscience, is it?

"Then what are we waiting for?" The blond simply got up, standing up straight as if he were 100-percent.

Sora began to dig into his closet again. He reemerged with four bottles of cold water. "Here, drink up now to flush it out of our system… Cuz more will be in it later on… if you catch my drift."

Roxas nodded and started to drink up the water, the cool liquid running down his throat, trying to wash away the vodka in his system. Within about half an hour or so, the two were finally ready to head out.

"But what about your brother and my brother in the living room?" Roxas brought up before Sora would open the door. "Cloud would kill me if he ever saw me high or drunk right now?"

"Well—"

"Yo Sora?" Leon knocked from outside the door. The two jumped a bit at the sudden action, but tried to keep their cool. "Qu'est-ce que tu fous avec Roxas?"

"Ehhh… rien de plus Leon… we're just playing video games…" Sora lied, trying to hold up a convincing voice.

"Okay…" Leon simply replied back. "Alors, Cloud et moi allons sortir à Clyde's."

"D'ac Leon. Et aussi Roxas et moi allons sortir avec Riku et Kairi. C'est okay, yeah?"

"Yeah, that's fine. You two be careful and have fun! À plus!" Leon said his goodbye. "And behave yourselves, n'est-ce pas?"

"Oh que si! We'll be good…" Sora sarcastically replied before hearing the front door of his apartment being shut.

Roxas had other thoughts on his mind for a second.

_What the hell? Did my brother and his brother just go out? Nah, it's probably just a friendly gesture to show him around town since Cloud needs some fun as well…_

"Good, they're gone! Now we can go out and have some fun!" Sora became excited as he went to go grab a zip up from the closet.

Once again, the blond's mind tried to resist… but it was no good.

"Hell yeah, let's go! Haven't had fun in awhile!" Roxas smiled, a rare characteristic of him.

"Alors, on va s'amuser then!" Sora equally smiled back.

–

* * *

Sora and Roxas both walked down the street on Avenue Dawson as they headed towards Windsor Park, not located too far from their apartment complex. The dark, nighttime sky of Montreal was in the sky as the slightly cooler, yet still humid air basked upon the two teenagers. The two were still a bit high and tipsy, but can fairly manage themselves by now.

"So… exactly what are we doing?" Roxas inquired as he stretched his arm up into the air.

"We're gonna go meet up with my friends, Riku and Kairi, at the park… And then we'll decide on what to do from there." Sora replied as he text a few people here and there.

"Hmmm…" The blond simply grunted as they continued to walk down the street. However, it wasn't long until the sight of the nighttime lit park came up into view. Roxas' blue eyes captured two dark dressed figures sitting on a nearby bench. He could see long, silver grayish hair from one of them, and auburn, henna red hair from the other. Soon enough, Roxas was face to face with Sora's two friends.

"La clé-pote!" The silver haired teen called out from the distance.

Roxas raised an eyebrow.

_La clé-pote? Is that like a nickname of sorts?_

"Quoi de neuf, Riku?" Sora slapped hands with the silver-haired teen that sported on a black sleeveless t-shirt with a yellow and white vest on top, showing off his defined muscles. From Roxas' perspective, Riku was taller than Sora and him, had a pair of aquamarine eyes looked to be in great shape, and had that pretty-boy aura all around him. His sleeveless t-shirt that sported out his muscles was another sign that this dude was strong and athletic.

"Et salut, Kairi! Comment vas-tu?" Sora hugged the girl with the auburn hair that had on a pink t-shirt and denim short-shorts. She was about the same height as Sora and him, skinny, blue eyes, and her face depicted a soft and gentle personality.

Roxas was definitely thinking about how his emo-looking self was making their first impression, as it has been said that it only takes someone seven seconds to formulate a first impression.

"Riku et Kairi," Sora began to slightly slap the blond's shoulder. "Voici, c'est notre nouvel ami, Roxas Strife. Il vient de Los Angeles et il habite dans l'appartement près de moi."

Roxas tried very hard to give the two a somewhat genuine smile.

_Oh god, I hope they speak English…_

Sora then walked over in between his friends. "Roxas, these two are my awesome best friends in the whole world, Riku Argris and Kairi D'Aubourgogne!"

"Nice to meet you!" Kairi smile wholeheartedly as she offered her hand out to Roxas, in which the blond gladly shook.

"Same here as well."

_Thank god, she speaks English!_

"Sup emo kid!" Riku held his hand out with his knuckles facing out, Roxas taking his knuckles and lightly hitting it with the silver haired one.

"Yo dude."

_Dude… did he just call me an emo kid? What the hell? Well at least he speaks English. _

"Okay, now that formalities are over with…" Sora let out a yawn before continuing on. "Qu'est qu'on fait tonight?"

_Dammit with their French! _

"Well, Tidus text me earlier saying qu'il y a une fête chez Naminé," Kairi looked over the screen of her phone.

"Yeah, on y va," Riku gave his two cents.

"_Une fête_? What's that?" Roxas had to ask.

"A party…" Riku blandly replied.

"Ah, I see…"

"Before we go, Roxas, is there anything in particular that you wanna do?" Sora looked over to the blond who was lightly scuffing the ground below him with his right show.

"Huh, me?" The Strife pointed to himself. "Well… I mean… I dunno… cuz I don't know much about this place… remember Sora?"

"Hahaha, oh yeah…" Sora scratched behind his head. "Sorry, j'ai oublié."

"We could show emo kid here around Downtown Montreal and go to Foufounes Électriques," Riku suggested.

"Uh… my name is Roxas, not _emo kid_…" Roxas was slightly irritated, but not enough to piss him off.

"That would be perfect!" Sora swung an arm around Roxas neck.

"Well, on pourrait…" Kairi started off. "Mais j'ai pas ma Volvo avec moi. Ma soeur, Belle, l'a."

"Ahhhhh, câlisse!" Sora began to pout his lips. "It would've been perfect tonight."

"We can definitely go tomorrow night though to Downtown. I'll have the car by then," Kairi reassured.

"Parfait!"

"Wait… what is this… _Fou— fou—ne—s Élec— tri— ques_… place thingy?" Roxas broke down the French name.

"Only like the coolest place to go to check out all of the metal, grunge, alternative, and other kinds of bands here in Montreal!" Sora gleefully replied.

_Aw dude! That would've been HELLA perfect! Damn that Kairi for not having her car tonight… but we're going tomorrow right?_

"That's cool…" Roxas simply replied. "But we're going tomorrow night, right?"

"Right!" Kairi replied. "Sorry Roxas, but we'll definitely show you all the cool places tomorrow. But for tonight, we gotta stay local on the West Island."

"That's cool…"

"So I guess on to Naminé's house then?" Sora inquired to everyone.

"Yeah, on y va…" Riku began to lead the group as they walked down on Avenue Dawson to their party destination.

–

* * *

When the four of them arrived at Naminé's place about after ten minutes of walking, it was anything but a quiet, little gathering. Already there were people in front of the house either talking, drinking, laying on the ground drunk, and all other sign of a big party were present… on just the front lawn!

"Whoa, some party here!" Sora shook his head up and down slowly.

"You can say that again…" Roxas added his two cents.

The four managed to get through the front gate and had to step over strewn bottles of beer and drunks on the ground before entering the house. Loud, blaring party music and a sea of people greeted them as they entered the house. Wherever you twisted and turned, there were just people all around you, dancing, talking, or moving around with either red plastic cups or beer bottles in their hand. Some even had bottles of hard liquid in their hands and just took swigs of it. Yup, it was a definite party going on here.

"Sora! Riku! Kairi!" A voice called out in the distance. No sooner than later, a blonde teenager emerged from the sea of people. Roxas' mind couldn't help but to spark something.

_What the hell? She looks a lot like Kairi… but blonde…_

"Salut Naminé!" Sora gave her a quick hug, followed by his other two friends. The brunet then pointed at the spiky blond next to him. "Naminé, voici, c'est mon nouveau voisin et notre nouveau pote, Roxas Strife. Il vient des États-Unis."

"Hello Roxas! Welcome to our neighbourhood!" Naminé spoke English, expecting the blond across from her not to understand French… yet…

"Nice to meet you," Roxas shook her hand.

"Anyways, enjoy the party you guys! We have drinks and food in the kitchen and in the backyard," Naminé told her friends before mingling off with the other guests.

"Merci, Naminé! We'll see you around then!" Sora waved off to her.

"Yo, Sora, I'm gonna get a drink. Want anything?" Roxas asked before he set off for the kitchen.

"I'll have something a bit later. You go on ahead. We'll be here." Sora politely declined the offer.

"Okay then, I'll be back…" And with that, the blond made his way to the kitchen, thankfully not far as he had to fight his way through a barrage of people. When he got there, he quickly looked around at the choices he had. Deciding to start off slow, he made his way to the cooler to grab a bottle of Heineken beer. Eyeing the couple of remaining left, he stretched out his arm to grab a bottle. He caught a grip of it until—

"Merci beaucoup, emo dude!" Roxas immediately looked at the robber who just stole his bottle of beer. His blue eyes captured a tall, gangly, green-eyed, spiky redhead with distinctive tattoos under his eyes. The redhead sported a tight fitting dark red t-shirt, somewhat tight fitting jeans with a wallet chain going from his red studded belt to the back pocket, a black zip up with the Roman numerals **VIII **on it, and a pair of red hi-top chucks.

However, before Roxas had the chance to reply, the redhead was gone from his sight.

_Damn… what an asshole…_

He grumbled as he took the last bottle of beer from the cooler and made his way back to where Sora and co. were standing… and guess who just happened to be standing in the group circle as well.

"Yo, Roxy! Over here!" Sora waved over, beckoning the blond to rejoin the group. He cringed his face in irritation as he saw red nearby.

_Not when that lanky-ass redhead is there…_

Despite his thoughts, he still went over, trying not to make eye contact with the redhead.

"Axel, voici, c'est mon nouveau voisin et notre nouveau pote, Roxas Strife." Sora then went over to once again put his arm over the blond's neck. "Roxy, this is my friend, Axel LeBeaufeu."

"Got it memorized, Roxy?" Axel playfully tried to press Roxas' buttons as he pointed a finger to his head. "C'est bon, c'est retenu?"

The blond couldn't help but to grind his teeth, having Axel using that antagonizing nickname.

_The nerve of this dude!_

But then he realized that maybe he should give this dude a chance and start over and forget what happened earlier.

"Awesome… to meet you…" Roxas reluctantly offered his hand out, in which Axel shook it.

"Same to you… Roxy the emo dude…"

_Wow… are you fuckin' serious…? _

–

* * *

_**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! NO REVIEWS… NO STORY :-/**_

–

* * *

Here are some words that came up within the chapter and previous ones that may help you out with the translation:

**Île de Montréal**** – **Island of Montreal (yup, Montreal is on an island on the St. Lawrence River)

**Bien sûr mec****- **of course dude (_mec_ literally means _man_, but I think you get the context here)

**Ouais**** – **yeah (a form from _oui_, meaning _yes_. Also _mouais_ could be used as well.)

**Maintenant**** – **now

**T'veux (tu veux)****…**** - **an informal second-person conjugation of _vouloir_, or _to want_. Basically it means _you want_.

**Peut-être** – maybe (_peut_ is the third person conjugation of _pouvoir_: to be able. _Être_is the infinite of the verb _to be_).

**La même chose**** – **the same thing

**J'suis sûr (je suis sûr)**** – **I am sure

**Quoi de neuf?**** – **Watzup? (lit. _what is new_)

**Meilleur(e) ami(e)** – best friend (use _e_ at the end when indicating a girl)

**C'est (pas) vrai?**** – **is it really? (when used with _pas _it means _not true _or _no way_)

**Pas question**** – **no way! 

**T'es (tu es) Rigolo** – you're funny (you can also use _tu es drôle_).

**Allons sortir**** – **to go out (in this case, we are going out since _allons_ is the plural conjugation of _aller_).

**J'ai oublié**** – **I forgot

**Oh que si!**** – **oh but yes or oh but of course. (In French, using _si_is like saying yes as well, but only when you're trying to make a negated question asked to you positive, otherwise _oui _is used)

**Il vient de(s)…**** - **He/it comes from. _Vient_is a conjugation of _venir_, the verb to come (in this case, come from).

**Qu'est-ce que tu fous?**** – **What (the hell) are you doing? (In formal French, one would write _Qu'est-ce que tu __**fais**__? Fais _being the correction conjugation for the verb _faire_, which is to do).

**Qu'est-ce qu'on fait?**** – **What are we doing? (In informal French, the _on _form is typically used versus the grammatically correct _nous _form).

**La clé-pot**** – **key-dude (just some nickname I came up with for Sora being a key blade welder).

**On y va**** – **Let's go (there) : (The _y _in the sentence already implicates a previously mentioned place. Ex : Tu veux aller au parc? Oui, j'y vais).

**On pourrait** – We could (_pourrait_ is using the conditional verb tense of _pouvoir_).

**Câlisse**** – **Québécois slang for swearing. It's equivalent to saying like "Aw, shit…"

**Argris**** – **For Riku's surname, I just did a play on the colours silver and gray in French for his hair (_argent_ and _gris_ respectively).

**D'Aubourgogne**** – **Kairi's surname is just a play on the colour of her hair, which is somewhat close to auburn and burgundy (Well in my opinion. Also it's _argent_and _bourgogne_respectively).

**Le Beaufeu**** – **Axel's surname is a play on his abilities to manipulate fire from the KH games. So if literally translated, his name is _Axel the Beautiful Fire_, but since many out there think Axel is hot stuff, I just did a play on that, thus his surname.


	4. Un rendezvous avec Cloud et Leon?

**Author's Note #1: **Heeeeelllllllooooooo readers out there! As you can see, yes I am STILL alive and have not fallen off the face of this planet. I _**deeply apologize **_to everyone out there for not updating this story in such a long, long, long time :-/ Unfortunately ever since the last update, school and frat life (yup, I'm in a frat) have pretty much taken up my time and I have not been able to give this story the attention it deserves. In addition, there was supposed to be an update last week, but I was busy moving out of my apartment that I've lived in for a year and now living in a house again for the summer until my friends and I find a house to rent and live in for the next academic school year. Also I was at Anime Expo on the 4th of July weekend So once again, I apologize to everyone out there reading up on this story and I promise to give this story more attention, despite taking summer school. Je suis très désolé et je me sens très mal! J'espère que vous continuez lire cette fiction :-)

**Author's Note #2: **This was originally a long chapter, but since I wanted to give everyone some sort of update, I've only included the first part of the chapter, which is really short, but I promise the next chapter will be more complete to fill in the holes of the previous chapter. For now, we will focus on Cloud and Leon in this chapter (recall that they were going someplace in the previous chapter).

Enjoy Chapter 4! Merci à tous! And don't kill me on the grammar, hahaha :-P

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Cloud and Leon were enjoying their time at Clyde's, a local bar joint on the West Island. The blond and brunet were enjoying their pints of beer amid the lively atmosphere they were delved upon, including blaring music, billiard balls being struck, laughter, and your typical ambiance of a social gathering. The two engaged in a conversation regarding about each other's past lives, what Cloud should expect here in Canada, and their younger brothers.

"So Cloud…" Leon grabbed his pint of beer, taking a nice swig before resuming his question. "What was life like in L.A.?"

"Well…" Cloud also took a nice swig, constantly eyeing the brunet on his left side with intrigue, formulating his response along the way. "It was pretty much a shitty life… if you catch my drift."

"Ah, ouais?" Leon chuckled.

"Hehe, yeah…" Cloud laughed likewise. "But it really wasn't like that all of my life."

"How so?" Leon began to listen more intently, as if he weren't already.

"Well…" Cloud took another sip before resuming. "Roxas and I used to live in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains in the upper middle class neighbourhood of Sherman Oaks, which is in the Los Angeles city limits portion of the San Fernando Valley, or _The Valley_…"

"Oh, _The Valley_?" Leon stated. "Didn't the term _Valley Girl _come from there?"

Cloud couldn't help but to chuckle at the pop cultural reference that many people associate with Southern California. "Hahaha, yup yup, that's the place…" The blond chugged the remaining beer in his glass.

"Une autre round, sir?" The bartender asked, grabbing the blonde's glass.

"Non, merci…" The Strife waved his hand to signify that he's had enough, but the Leonhart thought otherwise.

"Pas question!" Leon swung his arm over his neighbour's shoulder. Though Cloud was a bit… err… buzzed… the blond couldn't help but to blush rosy red on his face. "He'll have another one. Put it on my tab, s'il vous plaît."

"Of course, monsieur…" The bartender filled up the glass with more of that barley-made, cool, refreshing drink.

"Are you t— trying to get me w— wasted?" Cloud remarked, slurring a tiny bit.

"Hahaha, nonsense…" Leon chuckled. "So you said that you lived in _The Valley, _right?"

"Yup…" Cloud took another heaping dose of beer. "But then during an El Niño storm, our parents were on the way back form a company party in Malibu when some stupid-ass drunk driver lost control and their respective cars hit head on…" Cloud took a deep breath before continuing, apparent that the story still hurts him internally. "Since we had no family in California and no one wanted to take us in, it was up to me to take care of my lil' brother…"

"Sorry to hear about your parents…" Leon offered his condolences. "Sorta like what happened to Sora and my parents during the uprising at Destiny Islands."

"Yeah…" Cloud sighed for a bit, glancing up at the yellow-dimmed ceiling for a bit before deciding to continue. "After that, Roxas and I moved to Van Nuys, which was one of the poorer parts of the Valley. And then since my job to support us was all the way in the Pico-Union neighbourhood of L.A., we had to move to a really small and run-downed studio apartment in Koreatown near MacArthur Park. Things weren't going so great since the pay was low, living expenses were high, and Roxas just became way too involved with gang activities, drugs, and constantly… well… let's just say _giving himself up on the street_…"

"Wow… I can't imagine…" Leon looked on, eager to know more.

"So I had to look far and wide and luckily landed a great opportunity here in Montréal," Cloud finally managed to sneak out a smile, despite his depressing history. "I intend to make this opportunity the best for my little brother and myself as well… Ça c'est note nouvelle opportunité!"

"Mais bien sûr!" Leon patted Cloud on the back, giving the blond an expression of reassurance. "And you guys definitely have the support of Sora and myself as well 110%!"

"Merci…" Cloud smiled, patting the shoulder of the brunet next to him.

"Pas de problème… Oh and by the way…" Leon turned his stool to directly face Cloud. He began to advance his upper torso towards the blond, who just sat there, blue eyes widened as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

_What the… Is he gonna k— Is he gonna kis—_

Cloud's thoughts began to blabber as he continued to watch the brunet next to him advance towards his face.

_Is he gonna… kiss… me?_

Preparing for anticipation, the blond himself began to slowly advance towards the brunet as well, his eyes fluttering shut ever so gently in the process. However, before he began to discreetly pucker his lips, he saw that Leon had stopped moving, ceasing his movement at the same time.

_Huh…? Why did he stop…? _

Two pairs of blue stared at each other for an inordinate amount of time, daring one to blink first as they both tried to read each other's mind… or as it seems to be.

Finally, Leon cleared his throat to break the hush. He looked away from the blonde's gaze for a few seconds, reflecting on what had just happened and pondering on what to say next.

_Oh dude… was I about to… uh… make out with a dude I just barely met? _

The brunet scratched his head as he spoke. "Hey… um… Cloud... Can I ask you a question?"

The blond initially didn't know how to respond to the gesture. A few seconds ago, the two were about to lock lips… or rather what seemed like it… and now Leon wanted to ask him a question.

"Yeah, sure... go for it…" Cloud politely replied.

"Ummm… do you—… uh… do you—…" Leon certainly stumbled through as he was trying to find the question he was going to articulate. His face began to become rosy as perspiration began to appear on his forehead. "Um… uh… well—… er—… where did you learn how to speak French so well?"

_What the hell?_

The two were mentally astonished to what has just been said.

_Nice going you idiot…_

Leon closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he mentally slapped himself.

_Now I KNOW that wasn't the question he wanted to ask…_

Cloud just knew that there was some other underlying statement that Leon wanted to say. But what was it? Was he going to ask if Cloud liked guys? That he looked nice? Was there was something in his teeth? What could it possibly be?

_Hmm... maybe he's playing games…? Nah, that's not like Leon… Although I've only met him just now… But would he? Ugh, this is confusing! _

Cloud eventually decided to answer the question to avoid anymore of the awkward silence filling the air between them.

"I'm not quite fluent on it… though I've been taking classes since 3rd grade…" Cloud simply replied, looking away and down onto the wooden surface of the bar.

"Ahhh… I see…" Leon spoke before another inordinate amount of time filled between them, both trying hard to avoid each other's glances. In what seemed like an eternity, the brunet finally blurted out, "You're French sounds kinda… _sexy_…"

No more than a microsecond after Leon finished, rosy red was all you can see on Cloud's face. Not to mention his heart beating like a thousand beats per minute and his breathing becoming erratic, though he did very well on making sure Leon didn't notice.

Still looking down onto the countertop, a small smile crept onto the Strife's face as he replied, "I think your's sounds even _sexier_…"

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_Unfortunately that's all for now :-/ I swear I'm working on the next part that should've been in this chapter, so I hope everyone will continue to read and review and refer to friends and such, hehehe :-)_


	5. L'incident au Party

**Author's Note: **Sooooo… I've managed to sprain my ankle when I was playing tennis today… so sad =/ Thank God I have a laptop while stuck in bed… so I've managed to finish the rest of Chapter 4 (well it's really Chapter 5 now), despite the fact that I really should be studying for my Music 002 final on Friday and Soc 120 final on Saturday (yeahhhh… Saturday finals suckz ballz…) plus a research paper due on the final… FML! Summer school suckz ballz in general…

_But anyways, enjoy Chapter 4… errr, I mean 5!_

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_Dude... Who the hell does this douche of a redhead think he is?_

Though Roxas was seething inside and had the urge to beat the shit out of him from seeing this asshole again, he was the type of character to keep his cool in a tense situation like this.

_Hmph… I shouldn't let someone like him get under my skin…_

He gazed deep into Axel's emerald eyes, shrugged his shoulders in indifference, flicked the bottle of Heineken open, and began to chug the cool beverage in a very casual fashion; never ceasing eye contact with the Le Beaufeu.

"Awwww, Axel…" Sora began to pat the blond on the shoulder. "Ne lui appelle pas ça."

"Et pourquoi pas?" Axel interjected with a strong smile on his face, pointing a finger towards the Strife. "Regarde-lui, _Le Ciel_."

_Le Ciel? Is that like another nickname for Sora? Well I remember him saying something about that being like his name… or something…_

Roxas was in the midst of irritation and deep thought until he felt Sora lift his arm off his shoulders and turned him 90 degrees towards said brunette. The young Leonhart scanned his eyes up and down at said boy's figure, specifically the clothing. "Ehhh, I guess t'as raison… mais don't call him that parce que je pense qu'il l'aime pas."

Roxas felt a flush of red just coming onto his face. Not only were they talking about him, but also they did it in a language that he has yet to grasp.

_Oh why oh why are they speaking in French? Oh yeah, I forgot… I'm in __Québec__…_

"Alors, je vais out back for a smoke. Care to join?" Axel offered, taking out a packet of Marlboro menthols.

_Holy shit… menthols…_

The Strife's eyes widened quite a bit at the site of the familiar green and white carton. His body, or rather his lungs, had been craving for another smoke ever since he had one back at the apartment. As discrete as Roxas wanted to keep his desire for a cigarette, Axel did not fail in seeing the hunger in those blue eyes.

"Ahhhh, je vois que _Roooxxxyyy _aime des menthols…" The redhead playfully smirked and taunted, stretching his arm out towards Roxas' face to wave the carton side to side. "Oh yeah, but of course parce que tu es le type… errrr… how should I say this… um… emo… je suppose…"

The blond unperturbedly slapped the spiky redhead's arm away from him. He gave Axel a death glare of sorts.

"Au cour? Of course we'll join you," Sora stepped in front of Roxas to prevent any other… confrontations. "_Riiiggghhhttt _Roxas?"

Said boy did not initially reply due to his stubborn nature, but soon felt an elbow nudging at his side. Conceding the fact that he really needed another smoke to pass the night away, the blond chugged the remaining beer before giving his one reply.

"Right… or is it _oui_?"

"Aha, I see that Roxy here knows a lil' bit of _français__, _eh?" The redhead kept the ball rolling on the playful tone in his voice. He motioned for the other two to follow him. "Aiiittteee then, on y va…"

Axel began to lead the pack through the throng of partiers, with splashes of vodka making its way onto Roxas' shirt; he noted that some plump, idiot-of-a-partygoer sporting spiky brunet hair, a black headband, loose denim jeans, a blue-violet-ish bandana around his neck, and a red jersey with the words _Dog Street_ over a white t-shirt along the way.

"Oh, excuse-moi, dude," the partygoer apologetically stated with a bit of a slur and a smile on his face.

_Dude… no… fucking… way…_

Before Roxas was able to give a piece of his mind to the partier, Sora had the courtesy to keep the blond moving forward. "Allez Roxy, come on, it's only Pence. He didn't mean to do it… And besides… he's sorta clumsy too with his drinks. Number one party fouler in my opinion, hehehe…" Though Sora chuckled wholeheartedly, Roxas was not amused, grunting in response with a flavour of disdain. He cited that the shirt and zip-up he had on was one of his favourites.

However, before Sora could provide a rebuttal to Roxas' problems, the two teenage boys arrived at the backyard. Compared to inside the house, the backyard had a really chill ambiance in the air. Sure, you could still hear the loud blaring music coming from the house (one wonders how the neighbours have yet to call the police) and there were a couple of people hanging around and just having a casual conversation. In terms of physical features, the backyard was your ordinary one with a big grassy area, a veranda, and a gazebo. There, Sora and Roxas found Axel chillaxing on the bench, lighting up a cigarette as he inhaled the nicotine into his lungs before blowing out a steady stream of white smoke.

"Ahhhhhhh… c'est cool, la cig…" The redhead sighed blissfully as a smile crept onto his face.

"Hey, you didn't wait for us. C'est pas joli!" The Leonhart lamely whined.

"C'est pas ma faute que you dudes are sllllooowww as slugs…" Axel lamely replied as he began to pull out two drags from the carton in his pocket. He then handed them out to the blond and brunet in front of him. Sora then took a seat next to redhead, having his cigarette lit by him and enjoying the sweet taste of minty nicotine.

However, Roxas continued to stand where he is as he stared at the two on the bench. Axel, noticing the blond, painted a smirk on his face; patting the empty seat next to him as he said, "Assieds-toi Roxy…"

"Allez Roxy," Sora spoke right after he exhaled more tobacco from his nose. "Axel is your new friend now. He won't bite."

The Strife couldn't help but to raise his eyebrow at that statement.

_Uhhhh… since when did we decide that punk is my new friend…_

Softly sighing, Roxas reluctantly and slowly took the seat next to the red head. All of a sudden, Axel wrapped his arm around the blonde's neck when he was settled in his seat. Roxas glared at the redhead who just simply smiled as he offered his lit lighter to said blond.

_Hmph… I guess that's, er— nice of him…_

He dropped the glare as his head leaned towards the flame; finally being able to taste the minty freshness of menthol working its way through his mouth, esophageus, and lungs. He held the smoke in his body for an inordinate amount of time; cherishing the flavour that he's been longing for, though it's only been a few hours. The blond then slowly and steadily exhaled a trail of white, minty smoke out of his nose. Though it didn't have the same blissful aura of a joint, this was enough to keep the Strife in an easy mood.

"J'vois que quelqu'un must've enjoyed that…" Axel stated matter-of-factly as he too took another hit of his drag.

"Haha, most definitely," Sora added in as well, also taking another hit.

Though Roxas did not like having the spotlight always centred on him, the blond couldn't help but to smile at the tiniest bit.

"Whoa!" Sora pointed at Roxas. "Is that a smile I see on your face Roxy?"

Said smile immediately disappeared on the blond when noted, in addition to the name _Roxy _being said. "Uh, no…" The Strife tried to hide his face from view.

"Uh huh, sure…" Axel dryly, but bluntly spoke before discarding his cigarette onto the ground. Those words surely got him another glower from the blond next to him.

_You ass…_

Roxas kept his death glare onto Axel. However, he failed to notice that the redhead still kept an arm around his neck. Already annoyed by the Le Beaufeu, the Strife tried to discretely move to make it appear that he needed to stretch.

_What the hell?_

The contrary happened when Axel puts on more weight on the arm he has on Roxas, as if he was trying to keep him there still. Clearly not enjoying the awkwardness of the situation, the blond spoke up.

"Uh… do you _mind _lifting your arm up so that I could move?"

Words came onto deaf ears as Axel kept his arm there. He slightly turned his head to face Roxas, who had an indignant expression on his face. The redhead just gave him a smirk in reply before looking upwards towards the sky. "Alors, c'est comment, ton histoire?"

"Huh?" Roxas didn't have a clue what Axel just told him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot…" Axel lightly chuckled at a confused blond. "What's your story? Like before you moved out here."

"My… story?" Roxas sported on a confused look on his face as he took another hit.

_I barely met this dude… some icebreaker…_

"Yeah, come on, let's hear your story dude," Sora had to add in his opinion.

_I guess I can just tell them a short version…_

"Okay…" The Strife exhaled the menthol before continuing on. "Keeping a long story short: lived in Sherman Oaks in the Valley, parents died in accident, moved to Van Nuys and eventually Koreatown where older brother raised me, got into drugs and gangs, moved here to Montréal. End of story…"

Axel and Sora stared at the blond in confusion. Though they pretty much absorbed what Roxas had told them, the two felt like they had so many questions to ask. But before they were able to approach that notion—

"Salut dudes…" A voice called out from the veranda.

"'Sup Zexion!" Axel casually called out towards the approaching silhouetted figure. "Ça va?"

The silhouette figure finally emerged from the darkness under a spot of light. He was a slightly bit shorter than Axel in height, had a skinny and lean frame, and smooth and lengthy blue hair that covered his right eye. Clothing wise, he sported on a tight black shirt, skinny fit black jeans, black and white low-cut Chucks, and a black zip-up with the roman numeral **VI** sticked on the side.

"Pas beaucoup…" Zexion replied as he looked into a thick, black book he was reading.

"Dude, pourquoi tu es en lisant un book au party?" Sora questioned the teen that was reading.

"Sora, connais-tu Zexion… il aime reading, that's all…" Axel replied in his usual cool tone. The redhead then patted the blond next to him on the shoulder. "Anyways, Zexion, je te présent Roxas. Il est nouveau. Roxas, this is Zexion, another friend of ours."

"Hey, watup?" Zexion offered his hand out to the blond, who in reply shook it as well.

"Nutin' much…" Roxas softly replied. He then quickly scanned the book holding dude up and down.

_Heh, and they say I look emo? Puh-llleeeaaassseee…_

"So anyways, what brings you out here?" Sora inquired.

"Just wanted to let you guys know that that il y a un jeu de beer pong going on dans le garage maintenant."

"Vraiment?" Axel jumped right out of his seat in an unusually excited mood, accidentally whacking the back of Roxas' head in the process.

"Ouais, et Larxene is calling you out right now."

"That bitch…" Axel softly said with a determined look on his face. "Okay, I'm going there right now!" And with that Axel stormed off into the side yard that led to the garage. Loud cheers erupted from the garage the moment the redhead entered.

"Roxy, wanna go play some beer pong?" Sora asked Roxas as he rose up from the seat, discarding his used up drag as well.

The blond thought about it, thinking that he wouldn't mind getting trashed tonight. But the cigarette in his mouth has yet to be used up, and how the Strife hated seeing a smoke going to waste.

"You guys can go ahead. I'll just finish up my smoke out here and I'll come join you in a bit…" Roxas cooly replied as he stretched out his arms before putting intertwining his hands behind his head.

"Ahhh, c'est de valeur…" Sora made a pouty face, but couldn't convince Roxas to follow along. "Okay… alors, on y va, _Zexy_…" Zexion scoffed at the name being called out by the spiky brunet while they walked towards the garage, leaving the blond all by himself out in the backyard. He chuckled when the name came up in his mind again.

_Hehehe… 'Zexy'… I guess there's something worse than "Roxy", no?_

Gazing up at the dark-shaded sky, the Strife inhaled the menthol once again and exhaled upwards, seeing the smoke fly over his face from the breeze. Though he was at a party, Roxas took the quiet time to clear his mind of all the stress and drama that's happened to him from the time he moved and now.

_Well… I guess Canada, or rather __Québec__, isn't all that bad so far, aside my inability to speak a word of French…_

The blonde took another huff of tobacco.

_And I guess, I did make a few new friends… like Sora…_

He then exhaled, seeing another trail of thick white smoke fly over his face.

_But that Axel dude… He told that Zexion dude that I was one of his new friends…_

Roxas inhaled once again.

_But then… what an asshole he is, calling me "Roxy the emo dude"… emo is one thing, but "Roxy"? That's fuckin' crossing the line there… But it's not like Sora doesn't call me that as well…_

A rough exhale followed right after.

_But then… why did he have his arm around my neck the whole time we smoked? I mean… does he like me?_

Another round of nicotine drew into his lungs and spirit.

_Okay, I'll admit that for a dude… he's pretty damn hot… But then what kind of chick… or dude… would go for a douche bag like him? Aggghhh, I'm confused!_

After the last exhale, Roxas realised that there wasn't anymore cigarette to smoke. He really wanted to drink and a game of beer pong did not sound like a bad idea, so he got up from his seat, discarded what little was left of the drag, and began to walk towards the garage entrance. Along the way, the Strife needed to spit out some of the residue in his mouth. As he was hawking up and getting ready to spit out some saliva, he didn't realize that a couple of other people were coming opposite his direction and bumped into the blond, causing his to tumble… and to choke on his own spit for a good few seconds.

"Hey, watch where you're going, you stupid ass blond…" A tall, long blue haired man, who sported two distinctive scars that crossed in an X fashion in the midpoint of his eyebrows, angrily lashed out against the blond. Another dude with wild pink-brownish hair colour also accompanied the man.

"Hmph, maybe you ought to watch out where you're going…" Roxas boldly replied, slightly bit out of character for the blond towards strangers. Before he walked away, he noticed the roman numerals **VII **and **XI **respectively on each person.

_More Roman numerals? Are they Axel's friend? Are they in some sort of clique?_

But before the blond was able to finish thinking and walk away, he was suddenly and roughly shoved up against the brick exterior of the house, causing the blond to cry out and cringe his face in sudden pain.

"Qu'est-ce que tu me dis, salope?" The blue-haired dude angrily shouted, seemingly ready to lay a punch onto Roxas.

Said blond was struggling to get out of the iron grip of the bigger guy in front of him. It proved to be futile due to his skinny frame and lack of strength. "Let—… me—… go—… you...— ASS WIPE!"

"Saïx…" The pink haired one spoke. "Laisse-lui…"

"Et pourquoi, Marluxia?" Saïx asked said man next to him. "Tu vois pas quoi le blond ici a fait à moi?"

_What the hell are they saying?_

Roxas was definitely in a predicament. He's being held against the wall by some freak and now yet another conversation was happening in French. It was official: _Roxas really needs to learn French_.

"Tu sais quoi, blondie?" The one who had the number **VII **on his jacket spoke… quite the opposite tone from earlier. "J'pense que je vais donner un… cadeau… pour toi…"

_A '__cadeau__'? What the hell is th—_

_**CRACK**_

Before Roxas was able to finish his thoughts, a solid fist met the left side of his face hard.

"AGGHHH!" The blond couldn't help but to yelp out at the sudden pain radiating from his cheek just below his eye. He was still being held against the wall, despite just wanting to drop down onto the floor.

_Oh fuck! Not again!_

"OH, SH—"

_**CRACK**_

Before being able to complete the phrase, the Strife was once again struck on the face. This time though, the fist connected to the frontal facial area of the blond, precisely breaking his nose.

"FUCK!" Roxas nasally shrieked out as he was finally released from the grip, dropping onto the grassy ground below onto his back. He withered and shut his eyes in pain as he clutched his nasal region with both hands. He was fairly certain that his nose was broken when he felt two trickles of hot liquid coming down onto his lips from his nose.

Saïx, wanting to teach the blond a lesson, walked towards the Strife's side. Smiling demonically as he saw Roxas on the ground in pain, Saïx proceeded to give hard kicks to the boy on the ground. His smile getting bigger and bigger as the sounds of painful cries and grunts escaped from the blonde's mouth and into his ears, sounding just like music.

Meanwhile, a struggling Roxas was still on the ground, now holding on to the side of his body that was forcefully kicked onto. He wasn't quite sure if his ribs were bruised or even broken and he coughed heavily. The blond tried not to cry, but the pain circulating throughout his body couldn't help it. He felt a warm stream of salty liquid secreting from his eyes. Surely the eyeliner was now smudged up all over.

"Saïx, tu es fini maintenant?" Marluxia questioned, watching all the action from the sidelines emotionless.

"Non, pas fini…" The blue-headed one said with a determined voice. "Not until I receive… _mon cadeau__…_" Saïx proceeded to grab Roxas' arm and drag him to a nearby hidden area where they could not be seen. Initially, Roxas tried to resist the bigger man above him, but was easily convinced with a hard punch onto his flat stomach, gagging like never before due to the coughing.

The Strife was now disoriented with the physical abuse he had been subjected to. It seemed like every part of his body was heavily bruised and that even the slightest touch will cause him to cry out in pain. Though he was only dragged for a little bit of time, it felt like he was going far away from any source of help. He wanted to escape, but with the size of the man he was up against, how was that possible?

_I thought—… I thought that moving here—… was going to take me away from all this bullshit I've endured back in LA... Cloud… where are you? I just wanna go home…_

Now in a hidden, dark part of the backyard, Saïx laid the limp blond body upon a dirt area. He looked around the area just to be sure it was clear before speaking to Marluxia.

"Marluxia, be on the lookout and call out if someone is coming over."

The pink-haired man glared at Saïx for moment before giving a small nod and walking a good distance away. Now that he was gone, Saïx put on a more sadistic smile as he began to take off the belt from his pants.

_What… the… fuck?_

Roxas, still absolutely disoriented with what just happened, alerted himself wide-awake when he heard the jingling sound of metal ringing about. His dazed eyes captured the blue-haired man stripping off the belt that hugged his jeans, before sliding those off too. Now only boxers remained on Saïx's lower torso.

Frightened, Roxas tried to crawl away backwards. Unfortunately he was easily stopped by a strong grip on the leg.

"Let—… the—… FUCK—… go of—… me!" Roxas continued his resistance, trying to kick off the man at his legs. His words fell onto deaf ears as the blue-haired man made his grip stronger on the legs before forcefully backslapping Roxas on the face, rendering him motionless.

"I SAID… not until I receive _mon cadeau__…_" Saïx kept his insisting wishes a reality. With the blond motionless, he fumbled with taking off the blonde's studded belt and tight, skinny fit jeans. Now all was left covering Roxas' lower torso were boxers. "Je vois que je vais recevoir un _bon cadeau_…"

Though Roxas could keep attempting to escape (and who wouldn't), he knew that the more he tried, the more he would be physically assaulted by a man nearly twice his size and that he could blackout.

_Heh… __**blackout**__… doesn't sound bad right now… considering the shit hole I'm in…_

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_**Don't forget to review! No reviews... no story :-/**_

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**The Usual Translations**

**Allez** – it can mean _go _(vous conjugation from _aller_) and can also mean _come on_.

**Ne lui appelle pas ça** – Don't call him/her that (and adjective or noun should've been mentioned before hand)

**Regarde-lui** – Look at him/her

**J(e) suppose** – I suppose

**Le Cour** – backyard (Quebec French usage v. _jardin _in Metropolitan French)

**Pas beaucoup – **not much

**C'est pas joli** – that's not nice (in proper grammatical structure, should be: _Ce n'est pas joli_)

**C'est pas ma faute** – it's not my fault (proper grammatical structure applies here as well with previous example)

**Assieds-toi** – sit down (the imperative form)

**J'vois que quelqu'un…** - I see that someone… (Correct form: _Je vois que quelqu'un_…)

**Pourquoi tu es en lisant…** - why are you reading…

**C'est de valeur – **it's a pity (Quebec French usage v. _C'est dommage_ in Metropolitan French)

**Qu'est-ce que tu me dis** – What did you say to me

**Tu vois pas quoi le blond ici a fait à moi** – You didn't see what the blond did to me?

**(Une) Salope** – one of the many ways to say _bitch_…

**Laisse-lui** – let go (of him/her)

**Tu sais quoi…** - you know what…

**Cadeau** – gift

**Je vois que je vais recevoir** – I see that I will receive


	6. La Nuit du Viol

**Author's Note: **Soooo… my ankle is better now (for awhile, haha) and the first session of summer school is over (after two all-nighters in a row) and I did party it up… and I tried to release this chapter on Sunday, but I had to recover from a serious hangover… Anyways, thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing so far! Without such, the inspiration could've died as well, which I don't want to happen!

**Author's Note #2: **I know this is probably like the billionth time I've asked, but _**please don't forget to review!**_ I'm very flattered that there's a lot of visitor hits to this story, but I really don't know if everyone is pleased with what's written or so, so even if it's like a one-liner or something, please leave a review! And always remember that suggestions are always welcome as reader participation is fun to have!

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**WARNING: **This chapter will have a scene that of sexual nature (i.e. there will be a lemon… though I don't think it'll be the more pleasant ones)… _**YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**_

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_Enjoy Chapter 6! _

–

* * *

_So my first night has come to this, huh? Heh… who knew…_

Roxas' head continued to loll on its side as his bruised body continued to lay motionless on the grassy ground in a hidden part of the backyard. Meanwhile, Saïx, a much bigger person compared to the short and skinny blonde, continued to hover above Roxas in a dominant fashion.

"Hmph… now let's see…" Saïx's eyes were now focused on the body that lay below him. He moved his head towards the side of Roxas' face, inhaling deeply at the rich scent the Strife had to offer. "Tu sens très bon… comme…" The rough, blue haired man took another whiff. "Comme vodka, des menthols, et des…" He smiled as the last particular scent pleased his nose. "Et des joints…"

Roxas didn't understand what Saïx said, but he would rather not know, considering what's happening right now. His comfort level was now at an all-time low. His breathing became laboured when he felt the hot breath of the other man brush along his pale and sensitive cheek. He did not dare look at the one above him for the fear of having the image of his satisfaction sealed forever in his brain.

_Why me? Oh, why m—_

Roxas' thoughts were halted as he suddenly gasped, wide-eyed in the dark as he felt a warm and wet object trailing up his cheek. He was certain it was the blue headed one's tongue. It was followed up by a trail of puckering lips going through the same spot.

"Mmmmm…" Saïx deeply groaned in satisfaction, deviously smirking as he licked his lips, trying to get more of the Strife's flavour "J'ai raison… you do taste good…"

_Thanks for letting me know…_

The Strife couldn't believe his sarcastic musings at such an inappropriate time, especially now since he was being fondled like no other. Roxas felt a pair of rough and calloused hands coddling his clothed body. However it did not take long for those hands to go under both his black zip-up and black and white checkered shit.

_This is not happening… This is not happening…_

Roxas laboured breathing continued to rise as Saïx continued to caress his skin under his shirt. He felt warm trails of touch all over his chest, stomach, and sides. Because of the kicking he endured earlier, the blonde couldn't help but to flinch when his sides were touched.

"Tu te sens très, très, très smootttthhhh…" Saïx huskily whispered into Roxas' ears, adding to the flinching blonde's discomfort. "Maintenant… on joue…" And Roxas immediately found out what he meant by that phrase when two hands forced his head to face the man above. The blonde then felt a pair of lips roughly crash into his, causing his eyes to widen. He swore that he felt his head being drilled down into the ground.

_Holy fuck! I gotta get out of here! _

Roxas desperately tried to get Saïx to stop kissing him, muffling for him to get off. He also was aware the man's tongue was trying to get into his mouth, licking his lips that resisted the invader. Without warning, he felt those familiar hands return under his shirt. The blonde abruptly gasped when he felt his nipples being tweaked right under, causing his mouth to open in the kiss. This gave the one with the number **VII** on his jacket instant access into the Strife's mouth viatongue.

"Mmmm…" Saïx groaned again when his tongue explored Roxas' wet caverns, amid the protest of the latter.

Meanwhile, the blonde continued to struggle with the mission of getting Saïx off of him and running away (if that were possible). The feeling of having someone else's tongue in his mouth without his own personal consent was unbearable. The fact that he had just exchanged saliva with the freak above him was utterly degrading.

In the duration of the heated, though totally not wanted, tongue exchange, Saïx began to shift his body so that it was now squarely pressing onto Roxas' below… including his groin… causing the blue-haired man to moan in pleasure on contact… and the blonde in despair. He began to grind into the blonde below while still kissing, causing an erection to now take form in his boxers.

Now more than ever, Roxas was in a heap of trouble… as if he weren't before. The more Saïx continued to grind into him, the more… pleasure… that began to radiate in that area. He couldn't help but to ever so slightly groan in that sensitive region, causing the one above him to smile in the kiss.

_What the fuck! I shouldn't be feeling good right now! I need to get out of here!_

In a desperate attempt, he tried to sock his way out of the sexual encounter he was in. It was to no avail since his physical strength was on the weak side and the fact that Saïx's muscled body was like a wall of steel. Roxas also tried to toss him off his own frame. This was futile as well since the blue headed man was practically twice his size in height and weight. Without any more tactics, he was clearly now out of options.

_What the hell am I supposed to do?_

And if things couldn't come any worse, he felt the hem of his boxers being stretched. It only took a few seconds before they were slid down to his ankles; his crotch now exposed to the open air.

_Oh... fuck…_

Saïx did the same for his own pair of boxers. Now both of their crotches were fully shown, with Saïx's sizable member making electric contact with Roxas' smaller (compared to his), but still sizable for his stature, one.

"Now..." Saïx's own breathing became laboured when he continued to grind his exposed groin into the other one's. "Let's have some real fun, ouais?"

Roxas was too busy flinching around in a confused state of pain and pleasure. He sharply inhaled when he felt a hand rubbing his manhood with the man above him. The blonde unconsciously bucked his hips up in response to that strange and pleasurable feeling being radiated in his crotch, delighting Saïx above with a deep groan.

After a few more minutes of grinding, Saïx abruptly stopped and lifted his body up from Roxas. The blonde felt light again in terms of his body and mouth. Thinking the worst was over, the Strife tried to discreetly move away from his sexual predator. Of course, like his other previous attempts, it failed when he felt a fist connect to his flat stomach, causing him to violently cough in pain once again.

"On est pas fini…" Saïx barked out before spitting a good amount of saliva in his right hand and began to stroke his manhood up and down. Roxas watched in horror, as he knew what was to come. Recalling the days back in LA, he pretty much knew what the standard procedure was. Unlike those times though, he unwillingly wanted this sexual encounter to even occur and just wanted to be left alone.

_I just need to get out of here… but how? _

Suddenly, he felt his legs being forced up into the air, feeling a protruding finger at his tight entrance.

"If you even try to move and escape, I'll _kill_ you…" Saïx threatened Roxas with an aggressive tone. And with that said, Saïx hastily and impetuously drove his generously sized member into the tight entrance of Roxas.

"AHHHHH—" Roxas screeched in agony, his head rising up and eyes widening in response, but was muffled by Saïx's hand. The magnitude of the pain was indescribable. The blonde felt like he had just been carelessly ripped apart; like if something just pierced his insides. The spasms throbbing in his lower back was torturous. Tears began to spill from his eyes, as this was a hell of a lot more than he could handle. He was sure that he was bleeding in the insides by now.

On the contrary, Saïx moaned in utter pleasure. He felt like he was in paradise with his member making contact all around with the warm muscles inside. Not being gentle one bit, he pulled out his manhood until the head was barely outside the entrance and harshly pushed back inside, causing the blonde beneath him to agonisingly scream under his hand. The cycle continued haphazardly, increasing in pace along the way.

One should've felt horrendous for such actions being done to another right now, but not Saïx… he doesn't care how he gets it so as long as he's satisfied at the end.

It felt like an eternity for Roxas; all the pain he's enduring at the moment. Since resistance was futile, he tried to mentally tell himself that it'll soon be over and that pain is a temporary thing… right?

"Unnnhhh…" Roxas suddenly moaned in confused pleasure, feeling the foreign object inside him brushing up along his sweet spot. This definitely caused Saïx to smirk in pleasure.

_What the fuck? Why am I suddenly liking th—_

His musings were interrupted when pain returned back. But once again a sudden feeling of goodness returned when that spot was touched once again.

_It'll all be over soon… Honest to God, I hope it ends soon… _

–

* * *

"You ain't gonna make it in, Axel!" Larxene attempted to psych out said redhead from making the ping pong ball he had in between his thumb and middle finger by waving her hands over the last remaining red cup on her side, shouting psychological remarks to the teen across from her. The deafness from the other partygoers was high; the crowd was split on whom to cheer for as the game had just come down to just one cup on each side.

Meanwhile, Axel began to imaginatively measure how far he needs to throw the ball and how much force to apply on it. He kept one eye closed, as if he needed the perfect line of sight. Slightly sticking his tongue out, the Le Beaufeu tossed the ball towards the cup. As the ball was airborne, cheers erupted for the ball to either miss the cup completely or to safely land inside.

"Eeekk!" the crowd gasped as the ball hit the edge of the cup, bouncing up slightly into the air. Larxene tried to swat it way, but proved to be too slow for the task as the ball landed safely into the beer-filled cup.

"YEEEAAAHHH!" Axel shouted in a joyous and triumphant tone as he spread his arms out in a _frontin'_ manner "What now, ya BITCH?" Cheers and applause for congratulations erupted from the others.

"No, no, no! Wait, wait, wait!" Larxene tried to capture the attention of Axel, who was still too busy basking in his own glory. "Attendez! Attendez! What about my rebuttal?"

"Bitch, please!" Axel scoffed. "We agreed on no rebuttals this round, remember? Just the first one to eliminate all cups, winner takes all."

"Anyways…" Larxene rolled her eyes. "C'est égalité à 1 – 1 in the series. Let's have the last one a team effort. J'ai Zexion, Naminé et moi dans mon équipe."

"Fine then, j'ai moi, Sora, et…" Axel stopped to think about who would be the perfect addition to the team. He smirked when thought about a particular emo dude. "Et Roxy, okay?"

"Qui est Roxy?" Larxene inquired.

"Mon nouvel ami, right Ro—" Axel abruptly halted when he didn't see a spiky, blonde headed teen next to Sora. "Sora, où est Roxy?"

"He's out back finishing up his smoke… though I'm sure he should be done by now…" Sora raised an eyebrow. "I'll go see where he's at and I'll bring him here to play."

"J'y vais avec toi…" Axel decided to accompany the brunette out back.

"Hurry up dudes! I ain't got all night…" Larxene called out while she, Naminé, and Zexion began to pour in beer into the cups for the next round.

–

* * *

Saïx tilted his head back as he moaned in absolute pleasure, releasing his seed inside of Roxas below. In addition, the blonde climaxed as well, despite all attempts not to, but very difficult otherwise when you have someone brushing up on your prostate and pumping your member as well.

"Well… j'ai un fun d'éléphant…" The blue haired man smirked as he got up and put his pants back on. He took a gaze at the blonde below; a motionless, bruised, and battered Roxas lay below him, with his head lolled to its side as tears continued to run from his eyes to the grassy ground. Saïx couldn't help but to menacingly chuckle. "À plus… hope we do this again…"

And with that he was gone. Roxas was now alone out in the dark, his lower torso still exposed to the warm, summer night air. Continuing to lay down like a rag doll, he was just realising the damage he endured.

_I can't believe this just happened to me right now… I mean, WHAT THE FUCK?_

The Strife could've continued to lay there helpless, hoping someone would find him in that state and perhaps feel sorry for him. Instead, he decided that he should get out of there. And by getting out of there, he meant the place and walking his ass back to the apartment… wherever that was since he had no clue where in Dorval he was... if he even was still in Dorval.

_I've got to get outta here! Fuck this place!_

Roxas wiped away his white, sticky fluids on his stomach with the sleeve of his zip-up. He tried to sit up, but the blonde felt like something stung him around the lower spine, causing him to sharply inhale and lie back down. He was determined for others not to see him in this state. So with all the toughness he had within him, he sat up and reached for the hem of his boxers and pulled them up, managing to cover his once exposed crotch.

"UGH!" Roxas cringed his face as the pain inside of him began to grow and grow.

_Heh… painkillers sure sounds good right now…_

After managing to clumsily put on his pants, sans zipping up the fly, Roxas attempted to stand upright from the ground, but was unable to. Thus he began the only way he could become mobile… crawl…

_I can't believe I'm doing th—_

"ACK!" Roxas screeched as he plopped onto the ground once again, the severe aching returning as he held a hand to that spot. Making matters worse was that he landed on his already broken nose.

"Roxy?" Said dude heard a familiar voice calling his name from a distance.

"Fuck…" The blonde softly barked as he tried to go on fours and crawl away, hoping to hide from the voice.

"Yo, Roxy?" Roxas froze when he heard another familiar voice. Now he was really determined to sprint out of there. He began to unconsciously stand upright and attempted to run…

It proved to be a huge mistake…

"AAAGGGHHH!" Roxas crashed down back onto the ground hard when he felt like he was shot in his lower back. This was a definite attention grabber to whoever was lurking nearby.

"ROXY!" Sora came running to the blonde's side. He quickly scanned and took note on how messed up the blonde was. "Roxy, what happ—"

"AGGGHHHH!" Roxas attempted to answer the question, but was unable to when Sora touched his bruised sides. The brunette lifted up Roxas' shirt to inspect his sides. His eyes had the look of fear at the sight of red, black, and blue along pale skin.

"MY GOD, ROXY!" Sora's voice nearly cracked. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?"

"Sora!" Axel called off in the distance, running to the blonde's side as well. "Qu'est-ce qui se pa—" He halted his question when his facial expression changed into a look of pure shock. "OH MY GOD! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?"

"Il faut qu'on aille à l'hôpital!" Sora frantically took off his zip-up, lifting Roxas' head up so that it could be used like a pillow. "I'll get Naminé since she has a car!"

"Okay, I'll watch him…" Axel nodded to Sora before the brunette took off. "ALLEZ, SORA! VITE!"

Sora nodded as he hurriedly went inside the house to look for Naminé. Meanwhile, Roxas stared up at the redhead, seeing the look of concern on his face. His blue eyes then gazed over at the **VIII **stitching on Axel's zip up.

_Do those… two… know… each other?_

Roxas was about to ponder about inquiring the question, but was suddenly silenced by that recurring pain in his back. However, the magnitude of it was far worse than before.

"AAAGGGGHHHH!" The blonde bucked up his hips as if the pain were lifting him up the ground. Axel attempted to calm Roxas down by… stroking his hair…

"Calm down, Roxy… Calmez-toi…" Axel tried to his known calm, cool, and smoothing tone, which was surprising for him as the blonde began to calm down.

The pain began to assuage somewhat, but Roxas couldn't stay awake. With his body overwhelmed, his vision began to blur, the last image he remembered was Axel smiling down on him and feeling his hand stroking his blonde spikes.

_Wow… who knew this douche… could be so… so… comfor—_

And with that, he blacked out…

–

* * *

_**BEEP**_

_** BEEP**_

_** BEEP**_

_Uggghhh… why does my body hurt soooo much…_

Roxas slowly opened his eyes. A flash of fluorescent white began to flood his eyes, causing him to close them back up. He tried to breath, but was vaguely aware that something was up his nose... nearly breathing for him.

_Holy shit… are there tubes up my nose?_

His musings were confirmed when his eyes fully opened up. He also noted that he was dressed in a blue gown and in an unfamiliar bed with tubes up his nose and one connected to an IV in his arm. He also felt a splint nicely set on his nose.

"Where am—"

"How are you feeling, Rox?" Roxas suddenly jerked his head at the direction of the voice. It was just his brother sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"Oh, it's only you, Cloud…" Roxas sighed in relief as he felt his brother cautiously hug him. Not wanting to be an asshole, the younger Strife returned the hug back, actually feeling quite good within the embrace. "I'm feeling okay, but my body is aching all over... especially—" Roxas suddenly stopped as he was pretty sensitive about mentioning one part of his body that was aching.

"ROOOXXXYYY!" Sora suddenly stormed into the room, giving the bedridden Roxas a tight hug.

"Ugh! Sora!" Roxas tried to get the hyper brunette off of him, but to no avail. In addition, Leon stepped into the room.

"Hey Roxas, are you feeling okay?" Sora's older brother inquired.

"Well… except for Sora here hugging me to death, I'm feeling okay. Thanks for asking, though," the younger Strife replied, receiving a nod and a smile from Leon. Eventually Sora released the tight hug and Roxas took the time to familiarize himself with the environment. The light colours on the wall, white linoleum floors, fluorescent lighting, and the overall sterile ambiance definitely meant one thing: "Am I in a hospital?"

"Yeah, we're at Lakeshore General Hospital," Sora replied as he put a hand on Roxas' shoulder.

"I see…" The bedridden blonde looked around for a few seconds, letting the beeps from the vital sign machines take over the airwaves. "How did you guys get here?"

"Well… Sora called Leon… And remember that we told you guys that we were going out someplace? Well… here we are…" Cloud replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh… I see…" Roxas then turned to Sora, putting a hand on top of Sora's and flashed out a small smile. "Thanks dude. Seriously, I totally owe you one…"

Sora returned the smile back. "No problem dude. What are best friends for?" Though they've only met for a few hours, the two definitely felt like best friends.

"Uh, Leon and Sora? Is it okay if I can talk to Roxas for a bit in private?" Cloud politely requested from the two visitors.

"Sure, no problem," Leon granted the request. "Allez, Sora. On va à la cafétéria pour manger."

"Okay, on y va…" Sora followed his brother out the hospital room.

Now the two Strifes were alone together, the first time since they moved into the apartment. Cloud began to walk towards the window where he gazed at the twinkling lights in the horizon on the West Island. He exasperatingly sighed before turning around to face his younger brother. For some reason, the air in the room felt rather… tense…

"Look, Roxas… I spoke with the doctor earlier and I just gotta know one thing…" Cloud then turned his gaze onto the shiny linoleum floor, as if he was purposely trying to avoid making eye contact with his brother.

"Roxas…" Cloud paused for a moment, breathing the hospital scent we was delved upon. "Were you… forcibly… _raped_… tonight?"

–

* * *

_Ugh… honestly, it pained me to write this chapter, especially with what happened to Roxas _=/ _Please don't forget to review! _

–

* * *

**The Usual Translations **

**Le viol** – rape

**Tu sens** – you smell

**Tu te sens** – you feel

**On joue** – we play (can be _nous jouons_as well, but remember the remark I made about on and nous)

**Attendez** – wait (imperative form)

**Égalité** – equal, tied

**L'hôpital** – hospital

**Il faut qu'on aille** – We must go (third-person subjunctive form with _aller _conjugated in the subjunctive)


	7. À l'hôpital

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone! I apologize for the late arrival of this chapter, but I'm down to the wire in summer school as there's only two weeks left before I'm able to enjoy a three week summer break (just lovely, eh?). I'd also like to thank everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. It was quite intense for me to write and pained me to see what happened to Roxas =/

And now onto Chapter 7… I must warn everyone that it's not the best written chapter in this story since I kinda had to get this out rushed since so much is breathing down my neck at the moment, but I promise for a release of chapter 8 this weekend assuming everything goes well =/ Otherwise, I just ask all you readers out there to please bear with this chapter since it serves more of a supplement to the end of chapter 6.

And with that, ENJOY =)

–

* * *

Roxas flinched as he heard the word _rape _spoken out from his brother's mouth and into his ears. The word itself is fairly sensitive for many to even discuss about. So what was the younger Strife supposed to do? Tell Cloud the truth and recount the painful sequences of tonight's event? Or just lie about it and pretend that nothing ever happened so that everyone can go on with their happy, go lucky life (well, except for Roxas in this case).

"Rox…" Cloud called out said boy in a firm, serious tone. He began to walk towards the bed, assuming the bed-ridden Strife was in la-la land, and he didn't mean L.A. "Did you hear what I just asked you?"

_Of course I heard what you said, you insensitive ass…_

Roxas made a slight face as he mused. Knowing his brother, he knew that with either a _yes _or a _no_, there was going to be some serious probing right after.

_Shit… not the best word to use right now… fuck my life…_

Having the guts to make eye contact with Cloud, Roxas finally decided to respond. "I—"

"Jesus Christ, I knew it!" Cloud instantly turned around, throwing his arms up into the air as he walked back towards the window.

Meanwhile, Roxas sat there awestruck, his blue eyes widened as his jaw dropped. He didn't know what the hell had just happened right now. He was about to say his response, but was instantly cut off by his brother. He furrowed his eyebrows at the thought Cloud instantly assumed what he was going to say and that he was back to his old ways.

"What the FUCK? You didn't even let me fi—"

"Roxas, what the hell do you think you were doing out there?" Cloud raised his voice up a notch, fairly unusual for the elder Strife. He continued to gaze outside the night lit sky and not to his younger sibling in bed. "Did you just leave yourself _wide open _for those creepers out there?"

Roxas continued to sit there in shock, not believing what Cloud was saying. He couldn't even remember the last time Cloud yelled at him like this. Sure, the Roxas knew that even with the worst things he's ever done, Cloud would just give a really stern and serious lecture, keeping his upper lip stiff in order to express his emotions through his eyes. But now, this was way out of the ordinary for Roxas to deal with.

"But I—"

"Roxas…" Cloud paused for a moment. The aura of silence between the two dominated the tiny hospital room, with only the beeping of the vital signs monitor being audible. "There's a reason why I've decided to get us out of our old life back in LA for a new one here in Montréal…"

_Well shit, I already know that…_

Roxas rolled his eyes, as his elder brother seemed to finally finish talking. Talk about a heat of a moment between the two. Could it become any worse? The bed-ridden boy decided to see. "Well, Cloud… first of all… why the _hell _are you assuming that I was raped? Or even worse, let myself be raped?"

No response came from the elder Strife. Roxas, sort of anticipating this, scoffed as he continued on. "Secondly, yes I know why we made the move in the first place. Hell, I'm still not happy with your sudden decision to uproot us without really consulting me. You really think that we could just run away from our problems, even if we do end up moving to another country?"

Still, no response came from the blonde by the window. Perhaps the next phrase would get his attention.

"Lastly… why do you even _give a shit_?"

This definitely got Cloud's attention as he instantly snapped his attention towards his younger brother. He already knew that Roxas was trying to get his attention by provoking such a statement. However, answering it back was a different game. Sure, it may seem easy to reply to since the last time he checked, he's related to Roxas by blood as in siblings, but in the tense standoff the two were engaging in right now, what to say may affect the outcome of the situation.

Exasperatingly sighing, Cloud focused his attention back out towards the twinkling lights of the West Island. "Okay… Roxas… were you… _raped_… earlier tonight?" The older blonde articulated with caution.

Once again, Roxas mused about what sort of response he should give. It would definitely not end after that. "It— it's non— none of _your_ business…" He managed to squeak out, looking face down onto his gown and bed sheets. Roxas wasn't surprised that Cloud didn't say anything back, keeping his gaze on the window.

Cloud gave out a small grunt as he began to rub his temples with his fingers. Roxas was startled by such actions as he expected the silence between the two of them to prolong at least a little bit longer.

"So…" Cloud calmly said as he turned around to face his brother once again. "You say that… you… _weren't_… rape? Hmmm…" He placed his index finger and thumb under his chin, as if he was actually thinking intellectually about the thought.

_Dude, is he mocking me? _

Roxas was starting to get slightly pissed with his brother's actions. "Dude, what the hell are you—"

"Now tell me this _Roxy_…" Cloud interrupted, earning a scowl from Roxas at the nickname. "What can you explain to me about what the doctor told me about finding alcohol within your stomach, controlled substances in your system, a broken nose, almost fractured but severely bruised ribs, and the need for several stiches on your assh—"

"OKAY! I get it! Jesus…" Roxas irritatingly halted his bother from further listing any other injuries he sustained from that Saïx dude, especially that last one since he knew that he wouldn't be taking a shit right for a while until it heals.

_Fuck my life… again…_

"So what then, Rox?" Cloud still demanded an answer from Roxas. One could already tell by his own pair of blue eyes that he just wanted some sort of response. However, Roxas was just being his typical stubborn self. He knew such characteristics would make him an asshole and he's always been the stubborn one growing up, especially when his parents were still alive.

"Like I said…" Roxas proceeded to cross his arms with a _harrumph_ in his throat. "It's none of your business…"

"Goddamn it, Rox!" Cloud once again raised his voice, putting his right hand on his forehead. "Why do you gotta make this so fucking difficult for all of us?"

The little blonde actually pondered at the question just posed. Why was he making this so difficult?

"Hmmpphhh…" Roxas kept his arms crossed and his eyes closed, not wanting to look at his brother, especially at his eyes, who was probably fuming at his stubbornness right now.

And with that last response, Cloud aggravatingly sighed as he headed out the hospital room in distress. "Fuck, why do I even bother…"

_Eh… he'll be back…_

Roxas simply waved the notion off, knowing that Cloud would come back anyways after cooling off… likely after getting a cup of coffee or something. Now that he was alone in the room, he tried his best not to replay the events of earlier that night in his mind.

"AGGHHH!" Roxas held his hands on his temple as images of Saïx kept briefly flashing in his mind, much to his displeasure. He couldn't believe how such an ugly blue haired freak would be able to take advantage of him. He still remembers that in his days back in LA, there were dudes much better looking than him that he wouldn't mind being taken over by.

_Fuck, why can't I get him off my mind? _

The blonde frustratingly sighed as he let his hands run down over his face. There was something bout the blue-headed dude that particularly bothered him… bothering him in terms of… _Roman Numerals_…

"Why does he have the same kind of jacket as—… as—… Axel…?" Roxas pondered deeply. There would be no way that Saïx and Axel were friends. Or are they? Could they be at least acquaintances? Perhaps they are in the same social circle? Some type of mutuality? He'd never seen them hang out together or such. "Fuck… I dunno know anymore—"

"ROXY!" Sora came dashing through the door with a bag of chips in his hand. "I got you something…" The bag of chips happened to be French Onion flavoured Sun Chips, one of Roxas' favourites. Despite the pain he was in, the blonde smiled as he acceptingly took the bag from the smiling brunette.

"Thank— I mean, _merci_," Roxas opened the bag and began munching on the chips. But what a minute… Was the blonde even permitted to eat such while being hospitalised? Apparently he didn't care as he continued to keep putting chips in his mouth.

"Hehehe, pas de problème…" Sora giggled as he gave another one of his toothy grins. "Alors, où est ton frère?"

"Say what?" Roxas stopped munching for a moment, quirking an eyebrow at the French spoken to him.

"Where's your bro?"

"Ohhhh…" The blonde shook his head in acknowledgement before resuming eating. "He stepped out for a second for some fresh air or something since he's not a fan of hospitals…" And the blonde knew why considering all the trips he had to make back in LA due to his drugs and alcoholism Roxas suffered under. But of course he didn't want to mention that to Sora… Probably thinks he's a weirdo already with the past problems he already mentioned in a brief sentence or two back at the party. "Probably went to go get some coffee as well…"

"Ah, j'vois…" Sora nodded. He too was alone at the moment and the blonde noticed this.

"Where's your brother?"

"Oh, he too isn't a fan of hospitals..." the brunette chuckled. "He'll probably run into your brother as well."

"Heh, I see…" Roxas manage to blurt out a small laugh before the room started to become quiet once again. However, it didn't last long as Cloud and Leon managed to return to Roxas' hospital room, both bearing a cup of coffee in their hands.

"HA! See, I told you that they would run into each other," Sora laughed as everyone else in the room just furrowed their eyebrows as they stared at the spiky brunette. After the brunette's laughing ceased, he just noticed the looks he was getting in the room. "Quoi? What did I do?"

Everyone else in the room rolled their eyes, chuckling at the confused brunette.

"_Attention all visitors:"_ The four averted their attention to the PA system throughout the hospital. _"Visiting hours are now over. __Attention mesdames et messieurs: Les heures de visite sont terminés__." _

"Looks like we'll have to get going now," Leon grabbed his coat from the nearby chair. "Will you be staying here tonight, Cloud?"

"Yeah, I'll spend the night here with Roxas," Cloud took a sip of coffee right after.

"Wait a minute…" Roxas interjected. "Cloud, isn't your first day at your new job tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah, it is…" Cloud just realized that his first day was tomorrow at the Bank of Montreal. "Well don't worry, I'll just get up early and— oh shit, that's right…" Cloud also just realized that Roxas would be released tomorrow morning and that no one would be able to pick him up since he won't be done with work after 5:30pm due to a special orientation he must attend. "Hey, Leon?"

"Yeah, what's up?" The elder Leonhart was just finishing up his cup of coffee.

"I won't be able to get out from work until 5:30 tomorrow afternoon and Roxas is being released around 11am. Do you think you'll be able to come back here and get him?"

"Yeah, sure…" A smile could be seen at the corner of Leon's lips. "I don't have work tomorrow anyways, so it won't be a problem."

"Sweet!" Cloud couldn't help but to smile as well. "I'll tell the doctors that you have my authorisation then."

"Alright, so at 11 then right?"

"Right."

"Gotcha…" And with that Leon pulled out the keys to his Honda Civic out. "Allez, Sora."

"Okay, un moment s'il te plaît…" Sora began to walk over towards Roxas and gave him a light hug before leaving, as he didn't want to hurt the blonde from his injuries. "Okay Roxy, be sure to get plenty of sleep and take it easy on yourself. Seriously, take it easy, dude."

"Heh, okay then…" Roxas managed to hug Sora back. "Thanks again for everything, dude."

"No probs, Roxy." Sora winked, now realising the face he would get for mentioning that taboo-of-a-nickname (well for the blonde at least). "À plus, Roxy. G'night."

"À plus, Sora. Good night to you too." Roxas waved off to the brunette.

"Alright, see you later Cloud," Leon waved off to the elder Strife. "Good night, Roxas. Take it easy."

"Thank you, Leon. Good night to you too," Roxas politely said his goodbye.

"Thanks again for everything, Leon!" Cloud waved off.

However, before the Leonharts were able to completely leave the room, Roxas just had another thought come to his mind.

"Wait! Wait! Hold up! Hold— AGH!" Roxas cringed in pain when he unconsciously sat up from his laying position. This definitely got the attention of everyone as Leon, Sora, and Cloud walked to his bedside. All sported a _what is it_ look on their face. "Cloud, did Leon take you here?"

"Yeah, he did. Wh— ooohhh…" The elder Strife just realised that he wouldn't have a ride to work in the morning to Downtown Montreal.

"Listen, you don't have to spend the night here with me. I can take care of myself…" Roxas tried to sound strong. "Just go back to the apartment with Leon so that you won't have to go through so much trouble in the morning."

"Ar— are you sure about this?" Cloud's eyes began to sport a concern look.

"Yeah, don't worry about me…" Roxas insisted. "I'm fine… really."

"Well…" Cloud actually took the time to think about the proposal. "Okay then. Leon will pick you up tomorrow. Otherwise just take it easy and do what the doctor tells you to do when you get released. Okay?"

Roxas couldn't help but to roll his eyes. Will they ever leave? "Okay, I will."

"Um, Cloud?" Everyone averted their attention at Sora, who unexpectedly spoke up for the moment. "I could stay with Roxas overnight to keep him company. If that's okay with you and my brother…" The brunette looked up at Leon, who first gave a surprise glance at his little brother, but then nodded in approval with a smile. Same goes for Cloud.

"Sure, that's cool with me. How about you, Rox?" Cloud asked said boy.

Honestly, Roxas would prefer to be alone right now and throughout the night since so much has happened to him earlier and just wanted to deal with it all by himself. Hell, all he planned to do was just to lie there in pain and just tell himself what a horrible human being he was to have suffered through so much pain that he would never have to see again.

However… since Sora did find Roxas and did get him to a hospital, it would only be courteous to grant the brunette's request of having him company overnight. Plus, he could use a friend right now… as surprising as that sounded to him.

"Sure Sora, you can stay here overnight," Roxas kept a happy façade on his face, despite the need to loathe right now in self-pity.

"Coooool!" Sora's face lit up as he happily began to hug Roxas.

"AGH! Sora!" Roxas hissed as his bruised ribs were touched.

"Hehehe, sorry..." The brunette timidly replied.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, Roxas," Cloud ruffled his brother's hair, despite getting an ugly face in return.

"Okay Sora, I'll tell the nurse to bring you a blanket and pillows. And be good, okay?" Leon sternly told his younger brother.

"Mais bien sûr, Leon…" Sora toothily grinned.

And with that, their respective older brothers were gone. A quiet ambiance once again dominated the air, save for the nurse who brought Sora the extra pillows and blanket. Sora began to move the four chairs in the room in a way to make resemble a bed… somewhat…

"Hey Sora…" Roxas finally interrupted the silence. "Just wanted to say… thanks again for everything. You didn't have to spend the night here with me."

Sora had just finished arranging the chairs that he would be sleeping on tonight, before turning his face towards the blonde. "No worries, Roxy, really. I just wanna be sure that you're okay," his trademark smile beamed onto the blonde below. "And hopefully your first impression of Québec and Montréal wasn't uber sour…"

Roxas managed to laugh somewhat. "Eh… we'll see…"

Since it was late at night, the two tried to eventually pass time by watching some TV. However, the lack of channels proved to be useless as it was mainly old English and French programming on the air. With no video games, iPods, PSPs, or any other forms of entertainment, the two decided to just call it a night. They both hoped that Roxas would be well enough to maybe take a trip to Downtown Montréal with his friends.

"Hey Roxy…" Sora was trying to adjust himself in the so-called bed that he was in.

"Yeah…" Roxas tried to get comfortable in sleeping, but the pain radiating from his sides prevented such.

"Il faut que je sache…" Sora took in a deep breath before continuing on. "What happened to you earlier tonight at the party? You know… right after Axel and I left you…"

–

* * *

_Once again, I apologize for this chapter being as well written as I hoped to be… But I promise that the plot will pick up more in the next chapter! And don't worry, Axel will be back in the next chapter as well =) _

_Oh and please excuse any OOC-ness in this chapter. I have to tweak their characteristics somewhat for the sake of the story, but try to remain true to their originality so that they are still the same, lovable, recognizable KH/Final Fantasy characters you all know and love =)_

_Oh, and don't forget to review! _

–

* * *

**Since there were very few French phrases in this chapter, there's only one that needs to be really translated: **

**Il faut que je sache**** – **It's necessary that I know (subjunctive form of savoir, the verb _to know_)


	8. La vérité? Et la poutine?

**Author's Note: **As I promised, here's Chapter 8 for y'all =) Oh, and before I forget, I unfortunately will not be able to update next weekend as I will be in Las Vegas for my cousin's bachelor party for the weekend =P But since summer school will be over by then (thank God…), I'll be able to have more time to put out an update (or two… maybe) in two weeks, so don't think I fell off the face of the Earth =P

Hehehe, I still can't help but to crack a smile of a bilingual speaking Sora… especially French =D

Enjoy Chapter 8!

—

* * *

The warm and somewhat humid evening summer air greeted Leon and Cloud as they made their way out of the hospital. A few more steps and they arrived in front of Leon's red Honda Civic SI Coupe, the narrow and rectangular shaped headlights flashing a bit as the brunette pushed the unlock button on the key fob remote. As the two stepped into the vehicle, soft red illumination from the instrument panel and radio greeted their faces as Leon started up the car. After adjusting the radio and shifting the gears, the two were finally out of the parking lot and on the way back to their apartment complex, the road ahead of them being painted by the bluish shade of the HID (high intensity discharge) headlamps.

Initially, the ride was fairly quiet between the two as the radio played some alternative music in the background. Cloud grabbed his cup of coffee from the cup holder and took a sip of the now lukewarm beverage. Putting it back down, his blue eyes began to wander around the outside and inside of the car.

"Uh… nice car you— uh… have, Leon…" Cloud stumbled through his unintended statement, clearing his throat at the end, still having quite a bit on his mind at the moment.

Though Leon didn't want to say that Cloud had mentioned that earlier when they were going to Clyde's, he just politely smiled and chuckled while keeping his eyes on the dark road they were traversing on late at night. "Thanks, Cloud… Had to work hard and save up for this baby. Heh, a major step up from the old 1994 Nissan Sentra I first bought when I came to Canada…" He chortled and shook his head at the image of the old, rusty brown car he could only afford at the time. "Doux Jésus, quelle piece of junk that was!"

The Strife, although still way too preoccupied in the head, managed to crack a giggle and toothy grin of his own. "Haha, nice…"

The car once again became silent, save for the radio, engine, and the occasional cars that passed by them. Though Leon was driving at a fairly fast rate of speed, considering he was driving a performance car, Cloud felt like they were going at a really slow pace and that they had quite a way to go.

"So…" Leon managed to jump in, applying on the brakes as they approached a red light. "I see that you have a Nissan Murano… nice car as well."

The blonde couldn't help but to quirk an eyebrow.

_Are we really gonna keep talking about cars like this? Ha… this is so lame…_

"Yup…" Cloud shook his head in agreement at the brunette whom was still facing the road in front of him. In a matter of seconds, the light turned green and Leon slowly stepped on the accelerator while depressing on the clutch, changing gears as the VTEC engine's roar became progressively louder and softer at each gear change. "Had it for years now."

"Just remember that you gotta get your car inspected by a certified official for it to permanently stay here in Canada. Also the government might ask you to do some modifications… likely with your instrument panel since you'll want the kilometre scale to be bigger than the mile per hour scale… since everything here's in kilometres…" Leon cleared his throat at the end as well.

"Oh yeah…" It hadn't crossed the blonde's mind about all the stuff he would need to get his car, which was purchased by his parents on his seventeenth birthday some years ago, to comply with Canadian standards. It also hadn't crossed his mind about all the other things he would need to get straightened out so that he is able to start his new Canadian life with ease. However, his mind was just too preoccupied with all that's been going on within the last few hours, especially with his younger brother Roxas and the little blonde's refusal to speak about what happened to him earlier tonight. What a first day for Cloud to have in Canada! And especially if the point of the journey was to start fresh and anew. He couldn't help but to sigh exasperatedly, but discreetly at the same time in hopes Leon wouldn't catch it.

"It's Roxas, huh?" Leon chirped after the sigh. Well, so much for keeping that discreet.

Cloud instantly froze in place, facial expression included.

_Dude… how did he know?_

After looking out the window for an inordinate amount of time, the blonde calmly and slowly turned his gaze towards the driver, whom was still looking out onto the road (what responsible driver wouldn't?).

"Uhhh… yeah… it is…" Cloud couldn't help but to sigh again, this time with a frustrating tone, putting his hands on his face before letting them run down until they clasped together again below his chin. "It's just… you know… I've always tried to reach out to him… but it's like, he doesn't even care or acknowledges." Roxas' words from earlier echoed throughout Cloud's mind.

_"Why do you even give a shit?" _

"Hmmm…" Leon acknowledged, urging for Cloud to continue on.

"Oh dude, I mean, you should've seen how the hell I've managed to get Roxas to come along with me to Canada…" The blonde managed to chuckle out as he gazed back outside into the darkness. "He resisted sooooo much that I had to wait 'til he got wasted one night and then took him into the car with our bags and left L.A. behind us."

The little side story definitely got Leon to quirk an eyebrow. "Whoa… no kidding, dude?"

"Nah, for reals…" Cloud stated matter-of-factly, but didn't seem too proud at the notion made. "Not exactly the most _brotherly _thing to do… but I had to do it in order to get out of our old lives…" The blonde lamented once again as he finished recounting the one detail he forgot to mention to Leon when telling his life story.

"Whoa…" Leon let out a low whistle from his lips.

"Yup…"

The car became quite once again, but as soon as they pulled up to another red light, the brunette broke the silence.

"Well, Cloud… I think that you should give Roxas some time…" Leon focused his gaze from the road onto the blue eyes of Cloud. "He's probably going through a rough and awkward time right now, I mean with the move and stage you two are in life. Sora was a bit similar when we had to move from Destiny Islands."

"Hmmm…" was the only reply that came out of the Strife's mouth.

"I mean, D.I. was the best place to live in the world… well at least in my opinion," Leon chuckled, hoping to get a smile out of the blonde. "It was like paradise. The best beaches, the tropical setting, the chillness… Who wouldn't wanna live there?" The brunette quickly looked at the road, but noticed the light was still red. "But then things just started going down the shit hole from there. The once stable government constantly being replaced by those dark, nobody of a dictator sort of governments and the constant uprising in the cities. Just mad unstable, dude. There was no way we could've survived there with the constant bombings and riots and food and supply shortages being a daily thing… So when I told Sora that we had to get outta there, he cried about leaving his homeland for a strange place. Eventually, he realised the greater good and thus, we moved to Canada, though honestly I didn't think we would end up in Canada in the first place."

"I see that you left that part of the story out earlier as well…" Cloud stated.

"Yeah… I guess I did…" Leon scratched his head. "I've told Sora that we would eventually go back once things settled down and returned back to normal at Destiny Islands… but with such a regressive stance going on there and the fact Sora has made so many friends here, I think he's starting to forget his past life and is well adjusted here in Québec."

"So what you're saying…" The blonde tried to get the point right. "Is to give Roxas some time as well… and maybe he'll forget all about the past?"

"Right… but also give it time for him before your outreach to him becomes better and better," the brunette added in.

"I see…" Cloud shook his head, still noticing that the light was still red at the intersection.

"Don't worry, Cloud…" Leon moved his right hand from the gear shifter onto the top of Cloud's hand, earning him a small gasp, with a flush of red starting surface on the blonde's face. "It'll be hard at first, and may even get harder, but it'll smooth out eventually and I'll be here to help you out. Also Sora and Roxas seem to be getting along just fine as well. I'm fairly certaint Sora is watching out for Roxas and will do everything he can to make sure Roxas doesn't head down the drain. I know my little bro and I believe in him."

Cloud was still a bit shock that Leon's hand was still resting upon his hand. He tried to tone down the redness on his face, but failed as he felt the surface of his face starting to burn as a trickle of swear began to form from his head. "Uh—… well—… I—… uh, thanks for the advice, Leon."

When the light finally turned green, the brunette lifted his hand back to the gear shifter, the warmth escaping from the contact he had with the blonde's skin. "No problem, Cloud… anytime…"

As the car began to gain speed, Cloud unconsciously began to move his hand on top Leon's own, longing for the warmth that once escaped him. Leon widened his eyes a bit and noticed the touch on his hand aside from the knob of the gear shifter. Though he himself was starting to turn a bit red, he couldn't help to do but one thing… smile.

—

* * *

_"__Il faut que je sache__… what happened to you earlier tonight at the party? You know… right after Axel and I life you?"_

Those same words of Sora echoed throughout Roxas' mind after the brunette posed such a question. He really wasn't sure on how to reply or even reply at all since the blonde _really _didn't want to recount tonight's earlier events… not after how traumatic it really was!

Roxas fixed his gaze from the light coloured walls onto the pool of blue that was of Sora's eyes, so full of emotion and wonder.

So what was blonde going to do? Were the eyes of the questioner enough to convince him to tell his story?

"I—… uh—…" Roxas tried to blurt out a coherent response.

"Allez, Roxy…" Sora now was pleading with the blonde to tell him something. His eyes starting to now resemble those of a cute puppy. "Come on, you can tell me anything. I promise not to tell anyone else."

Meanwhile, Roxas was still conflicted inside whether to tell his new close friend what really happened tonight or not.

_Dude… what's with the eyes? It's like as if he's trying to hypnotise me… or something… I dunno, really…_

"I—… uh…"

That's it! Roxas had finally made up his mind.

"I… _can't_… tell you…"

The blonde averted his gaze from Sora onto his bed sheet. What he missed was the now hurtful expression on the brunette's eyes.

"B— But… pourquoi pas?"

By this time, Roxas figured that Sora must been asking _why _or _why not _or something along those lines. "Well… it's just… I—… um…" The blonde just felt so confused and delirious at the moment.

"But I tho— thought that I'm your friend…" A detrimental tone can be felt within Sora's voice.

"Ugh, but you _are_ Sora!" A mixture of slight annoyance but more reassurance can be heard in Roxas' own voice. "You _are _my friend. Hell, you're the closest friend that I have right now..." The blonde still kept his eyes away from brunette, missing the slight smile and blush from Sora due to Roxas' words. "It's just—… it's just that I—…"

Roxas just wasn't sure how to react for the moment. The confusion started to build up so much in his mind that he wanted to pull his hair right out of his scalp.

"CRISSE DE TABARNAK! JE SAIS PAS!"

Sora instantly widened his eyes after Roxas practically roared in the room. The brunette could've sworn he had stopped breathing as he looked upon a frustrated, lost, and utterly confused blonde. Sora was just in total shock. Did he just hear Roxas… say what he thought he just heard?

"Roxy…" Sora managed to softly squeak out towards the blonde, who had his face resting on the palm of his hands.

"What?" Roxas still kept his face covered in frustration.

"You—… you—… just spoke French right now…" Sora still had a sense of shock in his voice.

"Huh?" Roxas now made eye contact with the brunette beside him, his facial expression now confused as well.

"You spoke French!" Sora excitedly squealed as he jumped onto Roxas, giving him a tight hug, forgetting the injuries the blonde had. "Tu parles français!"

"UGH! SORA!" Roxas almost screeched in pain. Was Sora that forgetful about things?

"Câlisse!" Sora immediately relinquished the grip he had on Roxas. "My bad dude!"

"Your bad is right…" The Strife sarcastically replied as his face cringed in pain for a few seconds more before the hurt on his sides began to assuage.

"Sorry Roxy, hehehe…" The Leonhart couldn't help but to giggle. "But it's just that you actually said a phrase in French… albeit not flattering… but still, hehehe…"

Roxas had just realised on what Sora was talking about. He himself didn't notice those words he shouted prior to now was in fact… French. Was he now picking up the language a bit now?

"Hmmm… I guess I did... didn't I?" the blonde tried to state matter-of-factly.

"Mais que si," Sora toothily grinned. The two began to laugh for a bit, forgetting about the issue of Sora wanting to know what happened to Roxas earlier that night. Hell, that was how they got to this whole Roxas-speaking-French-randomness moment in the first place.

"Listen, Sora…" Roxas' voice now became serious once again, said brunette now attentively listening up to the bedridden blonde. "Right now… I'm just in a state of confusion, trauma, apathy, y'know… what have you with those words…" Sora nodded so far. "And well… don't be hurt that I'm not telling you right now… it's just that—… well, I'm just not willing to right now… mentally speaking…" Roxas looked up at Sora, whom now had an understanding expression in his eyes. "But don't worry… I will tell you eventually when I'm ready, since you are one of the only few that I can trust right now…"

After hearing the blonde's explanation, Sora finally realised that it would take time for Roxas to get over what happened to him and he felt assured that he would be the first one to know about it. "Okay, Roxy… you can tell me whenever you're ready. And also remember that no matter what you tell me, I won't judge you in any particular way, whatsoever, I promise. Tu es mon ami et j'ai l'intention to keep it that way…" Sora once again gave Roxas a hug, but was gentle this time and made sure he stayed away from the sensitive area of his ribs. The blonde actually welcomed the hug.

"Thank you, Sora..." Roxas hugged the brunette back. The two actually kept themselves in the embrace for a quite a while that Roxas thought Sora must've fell asleep on him… which was confirmed when he tried to nudge the brunette off of him.

"Uh… Sora?" No response came from said dude as Roxas heard a soft snore from the brunette.

_Dude… who sleeps while standing up? Really? Not to mention in the position he's in… Strange dude I tell ya…_

Roxas rolled his eyes as his face was now partially covered by the brown spikes of Sora. Felling tired himself and not wanting to use up any more energy, he decided to let the issue go and found himself in deep sleep as well.

_What a way to spend my first night in __Montréal__…_

_**—**_

_**

* * *

**_

By the next morning around 11am, as promised, Leon came to the hospital to pick up Sora and Roxas. During the release process, the doctor told Leon (to tell Cloud) that Roxas must take several medications three times a day for several weeks with a full meal in his stomach. She also told them that Roxas must keep the splint on his nose for possibly a week or two and that he must rest in bed as much as possible and to reduce any physical activity.

_I guess there goes the trip to Downtown __Montréal__ as Sora planned…_

In addition, the doctor told Roxas that he must stop smoking for a while since one of the medicines has some sort of interaction with tobacco. Of course, this did not please the blonde one bit since he was being told to stop cold turkey essentially. In addition, he was not permitted to drink any alcohol and he would have to find some way to deal with the withdrawal symptoms.

_Fuck… my… life…_

After signing the papers and gathering all of the medications, the three finally made it out of the hospital building, being greeted by a hot and humid day in Montréal. Leon and Sora managed to help Roxas get into Leon's Civic, being mindful and gentle about Roxas' sides. Even a slight touch made it painful for the blonde. One could imagine how delicate putting on a seatbelt must be now for him.

After getting situated in the car, Leon drove off from the hospital parking lot and onto the road. However, Sora noticed that Leon wasn't driving the typical way back to Dorval from the hospital.

"Hey Leon, où va-t-on?" Sora quizzically questioned his older brother, especially since they were now on the onramp onto Autoroute 40.

"Alors, c'est le dîner, n'est-ce pas?"

"Eh… si… I guess…" Sora still looked confused.

"Well..." Leon tried to make eye contact with both boys, while keeping an eye on the road at the same time (if that's possible… well it sure was for Leon). "Since Roxas here has had a rough night and since it's my day off… I wanted to make this day somewhat of a special occasion…" The older Leonhart chuckled.

"Alors, où va-t-on then?" Sora still didn't get it.

Aggravatingly sighing at his somewhat-of-a-dimwit younger brother, Leon motioned for his brother to come closer. He whispered something in Sora's ears, causing a delightful smile to creep onto the younger brunette's face.

"Ohhhhh…" Sora still kept that bubbly smile on his face, in contrast with Roxas' confused one. "Oh Roxy, you're gonna love this place! It's so rare that we go out there because it's kinda far from Montréal."

Taken by Sora's utter enthusiasm, this place must be really good. "Uh… sure?" was all that Roxas could reply.

"Don't worry Roxy, you'll love it!" Sora happily replied before sitting back down in the backseat.

And when Sora said it was kind of far from Montréal, he wasn't kidding. Roxas noticed as he kept his gaze outside the window, eventually the landscape went from suburbia to the dense landscape of the middle of the _Île de Montréal_to suburbia once again and eventually becoming flat farmland.

_Heh… haven't seen so much of flat nothing ever since the road trip here…_

"Oh Leon, guess what?" Sora spoke up after a long period of silence in the car.

"'Sup?" Leon was a bit curious to see what Sora had to say.

"Roxy finally spoke some French at the hospital!" Sora and Leon quickly gazed at Roxas, sporting a somewhat frightened look that all the attention had gone onto him again.

"Vraiment? Menteur…" Leon was quite amused to what he was hearing.

"Non, c'est la vérité!" Sora tried to defend Roxas' case, who now had a hand on his forehead, trying not to let a migraine form in his head. The brunette opened the middle compartment to find the iPod he left in his brother's car. He plugged it into the AUX jack and began to look for a song to play. "I'll play this song so that Roxy will learn more French."

Roxas quirked an eyebrow.

_"Learn more French"? What could he possibly play?_

He found out soon enough as a slow, country-like tune began to blare through the speakers, a woman's voice beginning to sing.

—

_Quand le soleil dit bonjour aux montagnes_

_Et que la nuit rencontre le jour_

_Je suis seule avec mes rêves sur la montagne_

_Une voix me rappelle toujours_

—

"Oh, this song?" Leon had a somewhat bemused expression on his face.

"Yeah, it's easy to understand, even for Roxy…" Sora stated, earning a slight glare from the blonde.

—

_J'écoute à ma porte de la chanson du vent_

_Rappelle les souvenirs de toi_

_Quand le soleil dit bonjour aux montagnes_

_Je suis seule. Je ne veux penser qu'à toi_

—

"Uhh… I still don't understand what she's saying…" Roxas somewhat whined, wishing Sora would just put it back on the radio.

"Shhh… she's about to translate right now…" Sora held a hand up, much to Roxas' exasperated sighs.

—

_Now when the Sun says good day to the mountains_

_And the night says hello to the dawn_

_I'm alone with my dreams on the hilltop_

_I can still hear his voice though he's gone_

_I hear from my door the love songs through the wind_

_It brings back sweet memories of you_

_Quand le soleil dit bonjour aux montagnes_

_Je suis seule. Je ne veux penser qu'à toi_

—

"So…" Sora looked towards Roxas. "What do you think?"

"Country is not exactly my favourite genre… but after hearing the translation, I guess it's an okay song."

"Cool!" Sora unplugged the iPod and put it back on the radio. "Maybe if you listen to it more, the more you'll understand French."

"Heh… _maybe_..." Roxas managed to crack a smile before silence dominated the car once again. Eventually they exited off onto Autoroute 131/31, with the city of Joliette on the exit sign.

_Is that where we're going?_

Roxas kept musing to himself as they continued on the highway. Eventually the landscaped transformed from farmland to that of a small town. "Where are we?"

"Bienvenue à Joliette, Québec, Roxy…" Sora replied with much fanfare, though receiving much little of it.

"Ahhh… I see…" Roxas replied as he looked back outside the window. Is this the place where Sora said the best place to eat is at? He would find out when Leon finally puled up to what seems to look like a small diner, greasy spoon types of place Roxas had seen on TV, but hardly in LA… well at least where the blonde would eat.

As soon as Leon parked in an open parking spot, all three exited out of the red Civic. Roxas looked up at the sign gantry. "Chez Henri?"

"Yup!" Sora put an arm around Roxas' neck. "Bienvenue Chez Henri! Home of the best poutine in Québec!"

"Poutine?" Roxas was now even more confused. What the hell was that?

"It's a really good Québécois dish," Leon replied matter-of-factly. "Allez you two!" He motioned for the two teens to come along and go inside.

When the three finally went inside, a loud commotion of French could be heard from all of the customers as they were enjoying their lunch. Since they were quite far from Montréal at this point, English could hardly be heard from anyone around. This was definitely not helping Roxas' case, who was still quite uncomfortable with the foreign environment he felt he'd just delved himself into.

"So… what do you think?" Sora asked a quite nervous Roxas. "Isn't this place the best or what?"

The Strife raised an eyebrow. "Uh… sure… I guess?" It looked like any other typical restaurant to him… save for the French signage he saw all over.

"You guys go on ahead and find an open table. I'll order our food," Leon offered. Both boys agreed and went ahead to go find a table amongst the busy environment. Luckily, they found an open booth near the back of the restaurant. In about a moment's time, Leon managed to find them and bring back the dishes with drinks.

When Roxas received his meal, he noticed the peculiar and unusual dish he had in his bowl. It contained a bowl filled with crispy French fries, covered in what looks to be like gravy on top of the fries, complete with cheese curds. Roxas wasn't sure if what was in front of him was either really good or really disgusting. "Uh… what is this?"

"Ça c'est la poutine, Roxy," Sora was already munching away at his in front of him. "It's really, really good!"

"Hmmm… I see…" Roxas returned his gaze at the dish. Sure, he absolutely loved French fries, but the idea of having it topped off with gravy and cheese curds, now that was his concern.

_This stuff looks like it can kill a man…_

But now, with Sora and Leon looking on at him, he really had no choice but to try it… since the dish is from Québec… and that Leon was treating him out for lunch.

_I guess there's a first time for everything…_

Picking up his fork, Roxas proceeded to scoop up some of the fries that already had gravy and cheese curds on it. Opening his mouth, he was about to put in the food into his mouth until—

"Hey look! It's Roxy the Emo Dude!"

Roxas dropped the fries back into the bowl as he cringed his face; not in pain, but annoyance at the voice that he irritatingly recognized.

"Yo Axel!" Sora waved at the approaching spiky redhead, accompanied by another dude that had a spiky blonde mohawk/mullet hairstyle on his head. Very interesting hairstyle Roxas noted, probably thought he was some sort of a rocker. In addition, the he noticed the Roman numerals **IX **on Axel's friend's charcoal zip-up.

_Uh… is there some clique that I'm not aware of?_

"Yo Sora! Quoi de neuf?" Axel slapped hands with the brunette. "Et salut, Leon!" The Le Beaufeu also shook hands with the elder Leonhart. "Ça va?"

"Ça va bien, Axel, et toi?" Leon politely replied at the redhead.

"Bien, merci," Axel smiled back. "Et tout le monde, connaissez-vous Demyx, ouais?"

The blonde next to Axel waved to everyone at the table. "Salut everyone, quoi de neuf?"

"Watzup Demyx! Rien de plus, vraiment…" Sora slapped hands with said blonde.

"Salut Demyx," Leon shook his hand.

"Oh, and before I forget…" Axel had a smirk on his face as his jaded-eyes made contact with Roxas' blue ones. "Demyx, je te présent _Roxy-the-Emo-Dude_. Il vient de la Californie," Roxas glared at Axel for using that name to present to someone who he has never met. "Roxy, this is Demyx, one of our friends."

"Hey dude, how's it goin'? Nice to meet you," Roxas shook Demyx's hand.

"Nutin' much, Roxy-the-Emo-Dude…" Demyx couldn't hold back his laughter along with Axel.

_Wow… you too?_

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_Remember that there won't be update until after the last weekend of August! Don't forget to review =) Oh and the song used in this chapter is called "__Quand le Soleil dit Bonjour aux Montagnes__ (The French Song)" by Lucille Starr, a Franco-Manitoban singer. I remember my French teachers using that song as an example for the class =P_

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**The Usual Provided Translations**

**Doux Jésus****!** – Sweet Jesus!

**J'ai l'intention** – I intend / I have the intention

**Où va-t-on?** – Where are we going?

**Le dîner** – lunch (in respect to Quebec French. In Metropolitan French, this would mean dinnerversus _le souper_for dinner in Quebec French. From what I've heard, the story goes back to the old days of Quebecker Farmers having a big meal for lunch but only having soup and bread for dinner. )

**Menteur** – liar

**Connaissez-vous** – you (all) know

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_In regards to Chez Henri, I saw a YouTube clip about poutine and a news report about it and they happened to be at Chez Henri. I'm just curious for all those who live or have been to Quebec if you know any other places with really good poutine? Merci _


	9. Roxas aime la poutine?

**Author's Note: **Heeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy everyone!!! I'm really, really, really sorry for the extremely late update :-/ Things have just been extremely busy for me ever since I got back from Las Vegas (sadly) and haven't given this story the proper attention it deserves. Hopefully y'all didn't think I fell off the face of the Earth :-P I will utterly try my best to be more quicker with updates whenever the opportunity arrives (in fact, I'm working on chapter 10 right now, hehehe). And the next few weeks, I have to start moving in my stuff to my new place for the new school year (siiiigggghhh… just one more year in college, hahaha). I want to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing so far :-D Means ever-so much to me!!!

_Enjoy Chapter 9!!! And don't forget to review!!!_

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_Dude… you're telling me that this blond dude with the Mohawk, mullet hairstyle… whatever it is… is gonna call me that too? Lame!!!_

Roxas donned a pouty expression on is face. The use of that oh-so antagonizing nickname from some dude he's never met before… oh the joy of meeting new people. It didn't help either when he could hear Leon trying to stifle a laugh in his throat.

"Awww, allez Demy…" Sora tried to ameliorate the situation by placing a hand on the Strife's shoulders and patting it, giving one of his toothy grins. However, this earned him the contrary when Roxas simply scowled at him, becoming stronger when the brunet used the ever-famous _Roxy _in lieu of _Roxas_. "Roxy here doesn't like it when people use that nickname."

Axel chortled at Sora's notion. "Hahaha, ouais dude. You should've seen Roxy's face when I first said that at Naminé's party. I thought he was gonna take me out… ou quelque chose."

_Dude… you're such an asshole…_

Roxas tried his best not to explode right in front of everyone and kept his anger bottled in, though not doing a great job considering the faces he was making towards them. What a time and place for Roxas to be in right now.

Demyx, on the other hand, found the Le Beaufeu's anecdote to be quite amusing, putting a hand behind his head. "Okay, okay, my bad dude. I guess I don't wanna start off on the wrong foot with you," he affirmed apologetically towards the other blond.

"Uh… that's okay…" Roxas raised an eyebrow before nodding in comprehension, trying to uphold a tone of indifference.

"Let me start off again…" Demyx held a closed hand towards his mouth as he cleared his throat. "Je m'appelle Demyx Musiquer. J'ai dix-sept ans et je suis de Dorval. J'aime jouer de la musique, particulièrement mon sitar. Il s'appelle Arpeggio. Et toi? Comment tu t'appelles?"

"Uhhhhh, Demy..." Sora interjected. "Roxy comprend pas frança—"

"My name is Roxas Strife," said boy unexpectedly began to strangely confidently speak with a small smile – though more of a smirk— on his face. This was much of a surprise to everyone at the table. Did he manage to comprehend all that Demyx had told him? "I'm originally from Los Angeles but now live in Dorval, next door to Sora and Leon. I like and dislike a lot of things in life, but music is something I love as well. I play the guitar and base in my free time as well."

Utter silence around the table eerily followed right after as Roxas began to dig into his bowl to finally be able to sample the poutine that sat before him. He actually had a smile painted onto his face as he nodded in approval. "Hmmm… this stuff is not bad at all…" All eyes averted onto him as he took a sip of his Sierra Mist and continued to eat.

Demyx simply scratched his head as he managed to don a smile of his own. "Uhhh… coooool..."

Sora was especially taken aback as he knew that Roxas still didn't have a complete comprehension of French in his grasp. A confused look still on his face, the younger Leonheart just had to ask. "Dude… Roxy…"

The shorter blond looked up from his bowl to face the brunet across from his. "Yeah, Sora? Watzup?"

"D— Did you just understand what Demy just said to you?"

Roxas briefly gazed at Sora with half-mast eyes before simply returning back to eating. "Uhh… _no_… I just simply guessed that he was introducing himself… said something about him being _dix-sept _years old or whatever and I'm guessing he likes music and plays the sitar, whom he named his own instrument, Arpeggio. So thus, I just sorta relayed the same information about myself to him. That's all, really…" The blond shrugged his shoulders lethargically as he resumed eating, trying desperately to ignore the numerous pairs of eyes that were drilling holes into him.

"Well, that's pretty damn good guessing for someone who doesn't speak French…" Axel tossed in his own two-cents. The way he articulated it though had a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Again… it wasn't that hard, really…" Roxas once again shrugged his shoulders in indifference. However, one could sense a hint of annoyance in his voice.

_Damn, why does the spotlight always have to be on me? Jesus…_

"Oh, ouuuaaaaiiiisssss…" Sarcasm reverberated in Sora's throat as he began to play with the poutine in his bowl with a fork. "Not like what you said in the hospital last night."

"À l'hôpital?" Axel now seemed more interested to be involved in the conversation. "Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit le dernier soir?"

"_Crisse de tabarnak_, and I kid you not…" Sora uttered matter-of-factly, earning laughs from everyone around him, especially Leon who tried so desperately hard not to laugh that usually went against his cool and calm nature… of sorts.

Meanwhile, a rosy shade of red began to creep onto Roxas' face in embarrassment of being laughed at. He sunk deeper down into his chair, hoping to disappear from the face of this planet.

"Hahahaha!!! C'est pas vrai!!!" Axel seemed to get the most kick out of this. His laughter was pretty deep, but displayed so much emotion of his light-hearted nature. "Those were his first words in French? Niiiiccceee one Roxy…" The redhead smiled as he attempted to pat Roxas in the back. He was unperturbed by the slap on the arm he received for it.

"Awww, come on Roxy. You shouldn't be embarrassed for th— OWW!!!" Sora quickly yelped in pain, feeling something stepping on his foot. Roxas simply whistled as he looked away from the rarely angry face of Sora, proving his innocence.

"Anyways, when we saw you guys, we just wanted to stop by and say watzup." The Le Beaufeu began to fidget for his keys in his pockets. "Also we just wanted to check up on how you were doing Roxy. You didn't look too good last night," Axel gave Roxas a genuine look of concern on his face, much of a surprise to the Strife who has perceived him so far as an ass ever since they met. In addition, as a pair of blue eyes made contact with green ones, a slight blush began to crawl onto Roxas face.

_Dude, why the hell am I blushing when I look at this asshole? _

"I would say that I'm doing alright, but considering the sides of my body hurt like hell and sensitive to touch and I have to wear this splint on my nose for awhile… I'd say I feel like shit right now."

The redhead, for some strange reason, began to briefly eye Roxas up and down for a bit before giving a reply of his own. "Yeah, no doubt I bet, especially since you looked pretty jakked up as well the last time I saw you, heh..." A small but hearty chuckle followed right after, which Roxas himself couldn't help but span a bit of attention on in his mind.

_His chuckle and laughter overall… so strong… but yet… draws you in…_

He mentally smacked himself for even formulating such a musing.

_Dude… did I just imply his laughter is… sexy?_

"Anyways…" Axel's voice interrupted Roxas' train of thought. "Il faut que Demyx et moi devions aller. Gotta meet up with some of the homies."

"Aiiittteee then…" Sora got up to slap hands with Axel and Demyx as he bid them their farewells. "Oh yeah, and if you guys aren't busy later, wanna come over to my place and chill with Roxy and me? He's supposed to stay rested today, but since his brother won't be home until about 6:00 tonight, he might need the company of his friends as well."

_The hell? Since when do I need company to help me get better?_

Roxas kept a deadpan expression on his face, but was getting kinda angry at the fact that Sora was saying what he wanted for him instead of telling them himself.

"Hmmm…" Axel sarcastically began to muse at the proposal, putting his thumb and index finger on his chin. "Je sais pas… Qu'est-ce que tu penses, Demyx?"

The mohawked/mullet blond too played along with the spiky redhead as he too placed his thumb and index finger under his chin. "I dunno as well… but… sure! I sure could use the free time to get to know Roxas better."

_Heh… at least he used my actual name this time… I guess I could grow to li—_

"What the hell?" Roxas hotly barked out as he felt a hand ruffling his hair… from none other than Axel. He once again slapped it away, including a death glare towards the dude with the tattoos under his eyes not to trespass into his _personal space_.

"Ohhhhh, feisty…" The Le Beaufeu mockingly raised his hands up in defence, eventually smirking. "I like."

_What do you mean… "I like"…?_

The spiky blond wasn't sure on how to decipher that phrase.

"Sure, we'll drop by later," Axel accepted the proposal.

"Swwweeeettttt!" Sora gleefully replied as he directed a toothy grin towards Roxas, whom kept a scowl and confused look on his face.

Before Axel and Demyx were about to leave, the sitar-playing blond stopped in his place and carefully examined Sora and Roxas with his eyes, raising an eyebrow in the process. "I hope you don't mind me saying this but…" Demyx once again took a long look at the two dudes sitting at the table. "You two look soooooo alike… as if you were twins…"

"WHAT?!?" Sora and Roxas hollered together as the looked at one another. They were initially baffled at the seemingly quirky remark that Demyx had made. The fact on what they just did together helped the Musiquer's deduction. However, Roxas did recall on making a mental remark about the first time he Sora outside the apartment building when the brunet was saddled on his hips from running into him and their blue eyes met one another for a brief moment.

_Dude… I think I remember saying something like staring into myself when I looked at Sora for the first time… strange shit I tell ya… _

"Duuuuudddddeeeee Demyx, I can see what you're talking about…" Axel laughed as he began to look at the two at the table closely as well. "You two dress similarly two… except Roxas uses more dark colours, likely to reflect his emo attitude, haha."

As expected, Roxas glowered towards Axel for the remark, although in his mind, he realised that the redhead was indeed right.

_Dude… we DO dress alike…_

Though Roxas kept quiet the whole time about the whole twin thing, Sora was more than willing to speak his mind, seemingly very elated about it as well.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Roxy and I were twins," the brunet smiled. "I mean, we are the two coolest and hottest dudes in Dorval, n'est-ce pas Roxy?"

"Errrrr… riiiigggghhhhhttttt…" was all that Roxas could reply, hoping everyone would just drop the subject already.

"Dude… kinda creepy that you two look are alike…" Axel laughed, earning two pairs of glaring eyes at him. "Damn you two, calm down… no need to use your twin powers against me, hahaha!"

"There's no need to be hatin'," Sora humorously remarked.

"Anyways, we gotta go. See y'all later!" Axel gave his farewells before gazing over towards Roxas. "Take it easy, Roxas."

"Uhh… thanks…" Roxas tried to give a genuine smile towards Axel. The blond noted the way that the redhead stared at him and the tone of voice he just used.

_Errrrr… kinda strange… but yet… so… um… alluring… Oh wait, what the hell?!? What kinda adjective did I just use to describe that ass?_

"See you dudes later!" Demyx gave his goodbyes as well. "And take care too Roxas."

"Thanks…" Said boy managed to give his gratitude towards the sitar player. With company now gone, the three men at the table resumed to eating their meals.

"You know…" Leon spoke up, considering he was quite silent in the duration of their time at Chez Henri. "Demyx makes an interesting point about you two looking like twins. I can see the resemblance too."

"Well _duh_, Leon!" Sora got up from his seat and went over to where Roxas was sitting, placing an arm around the blond and smiled. "Isn't the resemblance of two awesome dudes stunning?"

Leon heartily laughed pretty hard at the remark. "HAHAHAHAHA… suuuuurrrrreeeee…"

Roxas wasn't sure to either be happy, embarrassed, or just pretend he wasn't there. He was even more confused when Sora handed his mobile phone over to Leon.

"Prends une photo, yeah?" Sora requested before posing with a bubbly smile and a peace sign on his right hand. Roxas, on the other hand, barely managed to squeak out a smile on his face before Leon took the picture with the camera phone. He then handed it back to Sora with the picture on the screen. "See, don't we look alike?"

Roxas gazed over to the photo on the screen. Though the expression on each dude's face was contrastable, he noticed that there was indeed a slight resemblance of the two, save for the hair colours and hairstyle (Sora's was spiky all over with Roxas' being partially spiky with somewhat long bangs covering over his left eye). Could there be a slight possible chance that the two were indeed twins of sorts?

_Nah… probs not… I mean there are people who look alike and are not biologically related… Sora and I are just really good friends and neighbours, that's all… _

After Sora returned back to his seat, Roxas resumed back to eating up his poutine, slightly frowning a bit as it has gotten sorta cold.

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After spending about an hour and a half at Chez Henri, the three began their long trek back to the city. For much of the duration of the ride, a quiet ambiance drowned among the passengers in the car, save for the road noise, engine, and the rock music softly blaring from the radio.

Roxas, now sitting in the front seat in order to avoid the painful experience he had trying to get into the backseat of the Civic SI Coupe earlier, laid his elbow on the door ledge while resting his head on the on hand. For much of the whole time, he stared outside the window, from looking at the changing landscape from rural to urban, to trying to find any interesting sights outside, including looking for different licence plates of different provinces. He would've preferred sleeping the entire way, but Sora hindered such by constantly having small talk with him or being bugged about playing different car games and whatnot.

"Ugh, we're only about halfway there, huh Leon?" Restlessness was evident in Sora's voice as he was the type not to be left bored in a confined space.

"Yup…" Leon replied matter-of-factly, keeping his focus on the road while tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music. Sora exasperatingly sighed as he threw his back on the seat in boredom.

"Ugh… c'est ennuyeux maintenant!!!" The younger Leonheart whined as he attempted to stretch out his arms. He then grabbed the shoulders of the seat where Roxas was sitting. "Roxy, I'm bored."

The blond couldn't help but to roll his eyes at the child-like behaviour that Sora was exhibiting at the moment, though it was quite amusing. "Why don't you entertain _yourself_ then…" Roxas hoped that this would swat off the brunet for a while; at least until they were back on the _Île de Montréal_.

"Ugh! Roxy, you make it sound so easy!" Sora pursed his lips in a pout.

"I know, huh?" The blond acrimoniously shot back.

"Yeah, but h—" Sora suddenly paused, a joyful grin suddenly creeping upon his face. "Hmmmm… I know…"

The dramatic paused certainly caught the attention of the Strife as he turned around to look at the brunet in the back.

"H— Aggghhh!" Roxas yelped in pain before turning back forward.

_Oh yeah, I forgot… my sides are still trying to recover… such a bad idea! _

"Hehehe, you'll see…" Sora grabbed the iPod from the centre console of the car and began to browse through the selections. "I think this will entertain us all."

"What do you mean b—" Roxas was interrupted as electric guitar chords began to blast through the speakers, thanks in part of Sora turning up the iPod's volume. As the percussions began to enter, the blond immediately recognized the song… and had a thought.

_Oh no… don't tell me Sora's gonna—_

"Take this pink ribbon off my eyes. I'm exposed and it's no big surprrriiissseee…" Sora began to make gestures according to the lyrics of the song, matching the voice with the woman singing. From the vanity mirror, Roxas stared at him with a vague expression in between amusement and embarrassment.

"Don't you think I know exactly where I stand? This world is forcing me to hold your haaannnnndddddd…" Sora held out a hand for Roxas, who of course, slapped it away. The music then commenced a much faster beat with more instrumentation present in the background, causing the brunet to _jump_ up and down his seat, annunciating the lyrics a lot more. "'Cause I'm just a girl, little ol' me, well don't let me out of your siiiggghhhttttt… Oh, I'm just a girl, all pretty and petite; so don't let me have any riiiggghhhtttsss… Oooohhhhhh, I've had it up to heerrreee…" Sora held a finger by his forehead as he stretched out the last lyric he sang.

_Holy crap dude! I can't believe I'm seeing this from Sora… though this does partly not surprise me…_

Roxas definitely figured out what Sora meant by _entertaining them all_. "Uhhh… Sora, what the hell are you doing? Tryin' to be like Gwen Stefani?" He tried really hard to fight down a gleeful smile on his lips.

"He always does this with this song…" Leon informed Roxas.

"You don't say…" The blond narrowed his eyes with a simper on his lips, being cut off by Sora as the instrumentation slightly reduced.

"The moment I step outside, so many reasons for me to run and hiiidddeee. I can't do the little things I hold so dear, 'cause it's all those little things that I feeeaaarrrr…" Sora winked at a bewildered Roxas before moving his body to the beat with the chorus, occasionally putting his face near inches away from blonde's. "'Cause I'm just a girl, I'd rather not be, 'cause they won't let me drive late at night…

"Awww, poor you…" A mocking frown was painted on the Strife's face.

"Oh, I'm just a girl; guess I'm some kind of _freak_, 'cause they all sit and stare with their eyyyeeesss. Oh, I'm just a girl. Take a good look at me; just your typical prototype… Ooooohhhhhhhh, I've had it up to heeeerrrrrreeeeeee!!!"

Roxas continued to gawk upon Sora, whom now had his arms out playing the air guitar as the solo began to play through the speakers. "Come on, Roxy!" The brunet tried to get the blond to _play_ as well, whom refused to… though Sora did start to see a small smile creeping up Roxas' face, as his head was clearly moving ever-so-slightly to the beat; even mouthing off the _chika-cha, chika-cha, chika-cha _part near the end of the solo.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh, well am I making myself… clear?" Sora now formed his hand as if he were holding a microphone. "I'm just a girl…" He then held his hand out to Roxas. "Sing it, Roxy!"

"No way dude! I'm not a girl!" The blond utterly refused to sing out loud, especially with the lyrics of implying that he was _just a girl_. Sora simply pouted before continuing.

"I'm just a girl in the world… That's all that you'll let me beeeeeeeeeee!!!" The music began to pick up once again. This time, however, even Roxas began to unconsciously move his body a lot more with his head, singing the lyrics softly with Sora.

"Oh, I'm just a girl living in captivity. Your rule of thumb makes me worry some…" The brunet made a gesture with his thumbs up with an unsure look on his face, causing the blond to chortle as well. "Oh, I'm just a girl; what's my destiny? What I've succumbed to is making me nuuummmbbbb… Oh, I'm just a girl; my apologies, what I've become is so burdensome… Oh, I'm just a girl; lucky me, twiddle-dum, there's no comparisooonnn…"

Sora began to scream out the last remaining lines of the songs, with Roxas even starting to sing a bit louder as well. "Ohhhhhhhhhh, I've had it up to—, Ohhhhhhh, I've had it up to—," The brunet went up next to the blonde's face with his _microphone _in his hand as they sang the very last line. "OOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I'VE HAD IT UP TO… heeeerrrrreeee…"

As the song ended, Sora crashed back down to his seat as he giggled from the excitement he just went through. "Hehehehehe, see I told ya' I'd entertain us all."

Leon followed suit with a seemingly sarcastic round of applause. "Bravo you two, bravo."

"Hahaha, merci beaucoup mesdames et messieurs!" Sora lightly bowed. "Come on, Roxy, I know you were enjoying the moment too!"

Roxas still had the expression he donned earlier when he realised what Sora was going to do.

_Okay, okay… I'll admit… that was kinda fun… you had me singing a bit too…_

"Uhhhhh… suuuurrrrreeeeee…" Roxas replied with a smile on his face.

"See! I told you!" Sora seemed satisfied with the answer.

And with that, the car's ambiance became calm once again… that is, until the next song began to play on the radio.

"You and me… used to be together. Everyday together, alwaaaaaayyyyyysssssss…" Sora sang emotionally.

Roxas slapped a hand onto his forehead.

_Here we go again... Hahaha, I guess we could've used Demyx here right now for Sora…_

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_Don't forget to review!!! ;-D _

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_Songs featured in this chapter (and sang by Sora) are "Just a Girl" and parts of "Don't Speak" at the end by No Doubt. Hahaha, I gotta rep the Anaheim/Orange County area ;-P _

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_**The usual translations:**_

**Musiquer** – lit _musicating_. I used this word as a play on the French word for music (_musique_) since Demyx uses his sitar as a weapon in the KH games. This is an actual verb that can be conjugated surprisingly.

**Dix-sept**** – **seventeen

**Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit le dernier soir** – what did he say last night?

**Jouer de la musique** – play (some) music

**Il faut que… devions aller** – It's important/necessary that… must go/leave. (Subjunctive form)

**Qu'est-ce que tu penses** – What do you think

**Prends une photo** – take a picture

**Ennuyeux** – bored or boring

**Mesdames et messieurs** – ladies and gentlemen (plural forms of _madame_ and _monsieur_)


	10. Arrête ça, Sora!

**Author's Note: **Welpz, it looks like I begin my fourth year of college on Thursday :-/ Ugh, plus it's moving day into my new place on Wednesday :-/ I'll try my best to keep up with regular updates, but it may be longer intervals since I really need to concentrate on my studies and hopefully graduate in the Spring (that's a big IF so far) :-D No worries, I won't forget about this story!!! I love how this story is coming out and it would hurt me (and all of you) if I just stopped one day :-/ Thank you all once again for your continuing support on Roxas' _Québécois_ Adventure!!! Heart you all :-D

_And with that… enjoy Chapter 10!!! Don't forget to review!!!_

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_Oh… my… freakin'… God! Are… we… there… __**yet?!?**_

Roxas continually banged his head softly into his hand as the Sora's _singing voice _successively speared through his ears for what seemed to be for the last twenty-five minutes. From No Doubt to Paramore to Blink-182 and even the Go Go's and so much more, Roxas and Leon had to suffer from the _mini-concert _that they found themselves forcefully delved in, as they were all in a moving vehicle easily traversing at approximately 100 kilometres per hour on the Autoroute. The older Leonheart had attempted to cease the music blaring on the radio earlier in order to have his little brother refrain from anymore singing, but Sora's obnoxious and banshee-like whining made his singing a rather viable option.

_Christ, for a sixteen year-old, he sure acts and bellyaches like a three year old!_

Roxas irritatingly scratched his head at the musing, intensifying even further when he felt a particular brunet's voice rattle his eardrums, his breath practically being blown onto the blonde's ear.

"Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend, who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year. It's not confidential; I've got potential," Sora's gleefully vocalised with a smile as his face was practically mere centimetres away from Roxas'. The blond, however, was not amused; leering at the bubbly brunet with a cold set of blue eyes and a scowl as if to warn him something bad would imminently happen if the singing did not culminate. Nevertheless, the younger Leonheart narrowed his eyes at half-mast, simply smiled back at the glare and continued on his performance.

"Ready? Let's roll onto something new," Sora made the gestures the lyrics suggested towards Roxas. The blond still sported on an expression of ire on his face. "Taking its toll and I'm leaving without you!"

"Yes… please go on without me!" Roxas scornfully replied at the prompted _remark_.

"Moi aussi! S'il te plaît!" Leon chuckled as well, but even he was starting to lose his cool gradually. Who could blame him, especially if he had to drive and be part of the _audience_?

"Cause heaven ain't close in a place like this!" Sora continued on with the _show_. "I said heaven ain't close in a place like this!"

"Jesus… I wonder _why_?" Roxas acerbically replied to said remarks, rolling his eyes as he focused his gaze from the brunet in-view on the vanity mirror to over the side of the road. With the landscape becoming increasingly denser, the blond started to realise that all this _torture _would come to an end soon. However, one particular thought just crept into his mind.

_What the hell are we gonna do after this?_

Just before he was able to formulate an answer, the singer was back.

"Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight! Ooh oooooohhhoooo! Never thought I'd let a rumour ruin my moonliiiigggghhhhttttt! Well somebody told me, you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year…."

"Don't worry, Roxas…" Leon tried to maintain a calm and normal voice towards said boy, despite the loud and detestable cacophony coming from the back. "We're almost back at the apartments! Just a few more minutes…hang in there!" Leon tried to assure the blond next to him.

"Heh… dude, I _really, really, really _hope so…" Roxas groaned out as he desperately covered his ears.

_Dude… I'm not sure if cutting my wrist… or his singing… is the worst pain on this planet…_

The blond felt his wrist twitch a bit at the thought of the last time he let a cold yet sterile silver blade cut upon his wrists. He uncovered his chequered wristband that covered the scarring evidence. Though it was naturally healing, the paleness of his skin colour made the scars stand out in a fairly stark contrast. Sure, when he usually had those, er… dark moments… in his room or in the bathroom… the piercing of his skin were supposed to serve as anaesthesia of sorts from the miserableness of the outside world.

Now that he thought about, Roxas wouldn't mind cutting his wrists at the moment… Anything to drown out the _pain _seeping into his ears.

"It's not confidential; I've got potential!" Sora's face suddenly appeared in Roxas' vision in the most annoying way as possible.

_Oh God… will this never end?!?_

---

* * *

Roxas was lying down on the Leonheart's sofa after finally managing to return back to the apartment, being assisted by Sora and Leon along the way due to the throbbing pain that was ever increasing on his sides ever since the car ride back to Dorval. If there were any positive thoughts on the blonde's mind, it was the fact that he didn't have to suffer through anymore of Sora's singing… for now, that is, unless the brunet had a karaoke microphone or _Rock Band_ with him.

"Arrrgggghhhh!" Roxas agonised in a hush manner, holding onto his right side specifically, hoping to not let the others hear him.

"Roxy, ça va?" Sora came running to the blonde's side like a dog coming to the aid of his master, though not implying that he was a lapdog or anything. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… couldn't be better…" Sarcasm was easily detected in the blonde's voice. "I'm sure your singing will make it all better."

Sora's eyes lit up at the notion. "Real—"

"NO! NO!" The Strife held up his hand, nearly getting up from his laying position to prevent such actions. He thought twice when he winced from the pain due to the abrupt movements. "That's alright, really, thank you."

"Awwwww, c'mon, y'know you like my singing, n'est-ce pas?" The brunet initially had pout on his face before changing it as he came closer to Roxas. "Hey… uh… Roxy..." He sniffed deeply with his nose in between words.

Said boy sighed as he was trying to relax in peace. "Yeah?"

"Uhhhh… when was the last time you took a shower?" Sora waved his hand as he pinched his nose.

Roxas simply glared at him for the remark. "Well…" the blond rolled his eyes before continuing on. "_Remember _that I did have to spend the night at the hospital because I was r—" He abruptly stopped speaking as he mentally realised that he was going to let a keyword slip out; he simply still wasn't ready to tell anyone what happened on that dreadful night.

His sudden actions definitely caught the attention of the brunet above him. "Because you were what, Roxy?" Sora now seemed to press on finding out what happened to his new friend at the part. He donned a look of concern on his face. "C'mon Roxy, you can tell me."

"I—... er… rather not…" The blond averted his gaze from the brunet above him to the wall behind him. He really wished that Sora wouldn't continue pressing on the issue and just move onto to some other subject… perhaps his singing abilities?

"Plllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeeeeee, Roxy?" Sora was now pleading on his knees besides the boy on the couch. He grabbed the Strife's hand and gazed into his deep blue eyes with a pair of puppy dog eyes of his own. If the blond didn't know better, he knew that Sora could give such a convincing and cute face when he was begging.

_Damn… I'm sure that his puppy dog expression would work for begging money on the streets…_

"Well… I—"

"Arrête ça, Sora," Leon suddenly came into the room with a glass of water and a two medicine bottles in his hand. "If he doesn't wanna say why right now, then let him be."

Roxas, who seemed unfazed by Leon's comment on the exterior, was secretly thanking the elder brunet in the inside.

_Finally! Thanks Leon!_

Sora's infamous pouty expression crept in once again, before deciding to let the issue drop. "Hrmph! Fine then…" Both Leon and Roxas rolled their eyes at the juvenile behaviour he was exhibiting.

"Anyways… here are your medicines and a glass of water, Roxas," Leon proceeded to hand the bottles and left the glass on the coffee table. Roxas then opened the bottles with his hand and took out one pill from each respective bottle. One of the pills was rather large, yellow, and capsule shaped, while the other was a small, blue-coated tablet. The blonde grabbed the cool glass of water and went ahead to take the pills, swallowing the bigger one first as he knew it would take effort to do so.

"Bleh…" Dissatisfaction was apparent as Roxas scrunched his face at the taste. "Thanks Leon."

"No probs, kiddo," Leon smiled as he took the empty glass back into the kitchen.

_Kiddo?_

The Strife raised an eyebrow at the brief, quirky remark, but didn't think much of it as the telephone rang.

"Allô?" Leon answered in a typical French-Canadian accent. "Ouais? C'est pas vrai! Vous êtes sérieux? Maintenant? Mais pourqu— Okay, okay, be there in a bit." He hung up the phone as he grumbled, grabbing his keys, wallet, and cell phone. "Câlisse!"

"Qu'est-ce qui se passe?" Sora inquired as he grabbed the remote for the television and sat into the recliner.

"Il faut que je retourne à l'office," Leon hastily began to put on his black and white Vans slip-ons. "They said that they have a big case on hand and need all the paralegals to come over and help with the files. Hmph, day off my ass…"

Roxas wasn't sure if he found the seemingly angry nature of Leon to be frightful or just downright amusing.

"T'en fais pas, Roxy…" Sora began to recline back on the recliner. "It's normal when he gets all pissy like this. As if he were PMS-ing…" The brunet couldn't stifle down the chuckle that ensued from his throat, earning the middle finger from his older brother. "Love you too, Leon!"

Though Roxas refrained, he couldn't help but to smile at the remark.

_Yup… sounds like what Sora would say…_

When the elder brunet finished getting ready to head out, he took out his wallet and whipped out some colourful bills. After all, Canadian dollars were coloured. "Aiiittteee you two, I have a feeling that I'll be gone for awhile so do yourselves a favour and order up some pizzas for you both for dinner. Je prends quelque chose après le travail. Okay?"

"C'est cool," Sora acknowledged as Leon bid the two of them their goodbyes until later. The brunet then proceeded to count the money given to him. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix… vingt… trente… quarante… cinquante!"

"_Cinquante_?" Roxas repeated in a form of a question.

"Fifty bucks yo!" Sora's face was anything but sad or angry as he whiffed around the money in a fan-like fashion.

"What the fuck?!? Fifty?!?" This startled the blond, as Cloud never gave him that much money to be trusted with, regardless of the exchange rate between American and Canadian dollars.

"Yeah, my brother always does this every time," the brunet simply shrugged his shoulders. "I guess he's always worried that I might need the extra money for more food in-case he comes back late, which does happen on occasions since he does work in a law office."

"I see…" Roxas nodded, though still taken aback by the amount of money that Sora was always entrusted with. "Do you always use all the money given to you?"

"Hell naw!" Sora goofily chortled. "Pizza is usually only like $10 - $15. I use the rest for alkie and whatnot."

"Ohhhhhh… I see…"

_So that's where Sora gets all the alcohol. Does Leon even know about this? Not like he needs to, but wouldn't something correlate? Does the extra money pay for the weed as well?_

"And since Leon won't be back for quite sometime, I guess I could have a lil' kickback here then, hahaha." Sora seemed ecstatic about the possibility of having more alcohol and drugs at his place tonight. Roxas didn't seem to have a problem with this. Hell, he was all for the kickback as well. However, he just realised that he wouldn't be able to consume any alcohol due to his medications and he wouldn't be able to smoke any cigarettes due to possible interactions with the medicines... though the doctor at the hospital didn't say _anything _about not smoking any cannabis…

"Sora," Roxas still laid flat on the couch, but could tell that he had said boy's attention. "You know that I can't drink or smoke because of the medications…"

The brunet suddenly sat straight up, as such facts hadn't crossed his mind yet. "Oh, shit, Roxy… my bad… I totally forgot that you were taking stuff for your injuries. It could just be the two of us kickin' it tonight…"

"Oh no, it's alright, because I just realised two things: One, do you think you can get some 4:20's for tonight? And two, what about my brother being next door when he gets home?"

Sora knew how to answer question one, but had to take the time and ponder about the situation presented with question number two. "One: Yes, it'll be no problem. And two: …" The brunet pursed his lips for a moment before finally responding. "I'll have to do some serious downscaling so it'll look like a friendly little gathering. Cloud would believe that, yeah?"

_Would Cloud believe that? _

Roxas took the time to muse about that. Despite his past history about hanging out with other people at night time and the recent events that have transpired, since it was Sora that he would be hanging out with, and Cloud would know where he was, he can't see why Cloud wouldn't believe any type of shenanigans would be going on.

"Yeah… I don't see why not…" was Roxas' simple response.

"Swwwweeeeettttt!!!"

---

* * *

A couple of hours have passed since Leon left the apartment. The two boys left behind sat in the living room and watched TV, attempting to keep themselves somewhat entertained since Roxas preferred to say immobile on the couch until pain was fully assuaged.

_**KNOCK**_

_**KNOCK**_

_**KNOCK**_

Both boys turned around and averted their attention towards the front door.

"Hmmm…" Sora wondered as he got up to answer the door. It was none other than a tall, lanky, spiky redhead with a mohawked/mullet blond at the door, carrying a bluish, guitar-like instrument. "Axel! Demy! Quoi de neuf dudes?"

_Axel?!?_

Roxas immediately got up from the couch when he heard a particular name creep into his ears. "Arrrgggghhhh!" Bad idea as his sides protested such actions.

"Awwwwww, is our little Roxy doing alright here laying on the couch?" Axel crooned at the blond below, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. However, glares resembling daggers of ice were the only gift that the redhead got in return from the blond.

"I'm doing alright, thank you very much…" Roxas coolly replied as he turned his attention right back onto the TV. Suddenly, he felt his legs being lifted up onto the air and finally being rested upon on the lap of the redhead. "Uh… what the hell are you doing?"

Axel simply shrugged his shoulders at the cold reception the blond gave him. "I wanted to sit down and watch TV… Is that too much to ask?"

"You could've sat in the recliner or the chair over there," the blond replied matter-of-factly.

"Um… nah, I think I like it right here…" Axel grabbed the remote and began channel surfing; unaware of the malevolent gaze he was being casted upon by Roxas centimetres away.

"Roxy! Axel!" Sora began to put on his Chucks, looking like he was ready to head out someplace. "On va au dépanneur pour l'alcool et des cigs."

"_Dépanneur_?" The blond questioned, making an effort to at lease build up his vocabulary skills.

"Yeah, the dép… or in this case, I believe it's called a _liquor store _in the States, no?" Axel answered the question with a question.

"Oh… I see…"

"We'll be back soon!" And with that Sora and Demyx were out the door… leaving Roxas and Axel by themselves.

"Well Roxy, looks like it'll be the two of us for now. Isn't that awesome?" Axel smiled as he patted the blonde's legs, causing a twitch to occur.

"Oh yeah… exciting indeed…" Roxas sarcastically commented, earning a chuckle from the redhead near him.

_Jesus Sora… you just had to leave me here with him… how awkward can this get?_

"You need a foot massage?" Axel tried to stifle down a laugh.

_I think that just answered everything right there…_

---

* * *

"_Somebody Told Me" by The Killers is featured in this chapter (with Sora taking the vocals as always) :-P _

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* * *

**The usual provided translations:**

**Moi aussi** – me too/me as well/me also

**S'il te plaît** – please (using the _tu_ form; can be _s'il vous plaît_ as well, but usually used for former situations.)

**Vous êtes sérieux****?** – Are you serious?

**Qu'est-ce qui se passe** – What's happening/what's the matter?

**Il faut que je retourne à l'office** – I must return back to the office (subjunctive tense)

**T'en fais pas** – Don't worry/no worries (fairly informal, slang)


	11. Un autre incident?

**Author's Note: **Finally!!! I'm a fourth year in college!!! Hahaha, it actually feels the same as my junior and sophomore year (freshman year… er, different story :-P) but because of the current economic recession, there was an actual walkout by a large number of staff and professors on the first day of instruction (24 September) o.O I didn't have lecture the first day since my professor is actually in Africa for a demography conference, but yeah, seems like an interesting year is coming up for me….

Anyways, I've also settled into my new place. It's pretty chill and two of my roomies are my friends so the house is gonna be chill (more parties!!! Haha). Hopefully I can keep up with the regular updates with my schoolwork, extracurricular junk, and my roomies not distracting me :-D  
Once again, I thank you all for your continued support. I hope more and more people will be able to read this fic :-D

**Author's Note #2: **I know this is kinda late and random mentioning, but in case you've been wondering about the spelling style I use, I typically have more preference of using British/Canadian/Australian English spelling conventions. Since Canadian English is not present in my version of MS Office, I use Australian English spelling convention since I'd figure that's the next closest one. And for French, I of course use the French Canadian setting!!! Okay that's all =D Just fyi, haha!!!

_And with that, enjoy Chapter 11!!! Don't forget to review please so that I know what y'all like and don't like and suggestions :-) _

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* * *

Roxas quirked an eyebrow at the suggestion Axel made to him. Sure, he knew that this was a definite awkward situation the two were now engaged in, but the blonde's ever-nagging mind articulated that perhaps there was more to the mere suggestion of a foot massage then presented. He knew people loved the idea of massages, especially if they had been standing or moving all day; the expression _my dogs are aching _would be the response of the one receiving it. However, his feet were just fine since he was pretty much stationary the entire time from the hospital until now. So what was the deal with the suggestion of a foot massage?

_Okay Roxas… you're probably taking this waaaayyyy out of proportion… _

The Strife tried to rationalise with himself, maintaining a cool and flaccid façade on the exterior.

_But then, who right in their mind would suggest such? But then again… he could be joking since he does have that sort humour in his persona… albeit being an assanizing characteristic… Plus feet? Eww, who talks about that in normal conversation? Bunions and all…_

"Earth to _emo dude_!!!" Axel nearly had to yelp in the blonde's ear in order to grab his attention.

"Huh? What? What did you say?" Roxas snapped back into reality. _Damn… he was talking to me? While I was thinking about feet? What the hell have I succumbed to now? Really? _He mentally gave himself a smack on the head.

The redhead rolled his eyes to the side, but kept that irksome of a smirk on his face. "I _said_, you're actually considering the offer, eh?"

The blond was quick to widen his eyes and don an expression of ire towards the lanky, green-eyed boy. "Fuck no! Why the hell would I ever consider such an… er— atrocious offering by an asswipe like you?" _Goddamn, I'm lying soooo badly through my fucking teeth!_

Axel held a finger up as he began numerically listing his reasons. "Un: You stared at me for the longest time with a fairly intriguing look I might add. Deux: Such a long ass time would likely signify that you've been in deep thought. Et trois: I've been hollering out your name for a hella while, _ergo_ you've given the offer quite the heavy amount of attention I wasn't quite expecting…" He gave off one of his deep chuckles as he coolly relaxed his hands behind his head. "You're a sick dude thinking about feet, y'know that? Quelle honte!"

_That little bi—_

"AGH!" Roxas winced as the pain reawakened when he unconsciously tried to sit up, specifically trying to get away from the lanky dude that kept his legs on his lap.

"Awwwwww, is our lil' emo dude gonna cry?" The blond glared at Axel for using such a condescending and mocking tone towards him. "Je suis très triste…"

_Who the hell does he think he is? I swear that he only does this around me. _

"You're an ass…" Roxas grumbled.

"Better than being a bitchass like you…" Axel fired right back.

"Moron."

"Prick."

"Retard."

"Asswipe."

"Cunt."

"Whore."

Axel received a cold glare when he fired that particular missile at Roxas. The Strife just about had it with the Le Beaufeu next to him when he tried to kick his legs off of the redhead's lap and tried to get up.

"Fuck this sh— ARRRGGGHHH! MOTHER FUCKER!" The blonde's sudden, hasty, and desperate manoeuvres caused his body to protest in pain, not appreciating what he was doing. "Fuck this pain!"

Axel, although having genuine concern for the blond next to him, especially since he was the one that sorta provoked it, simply moved his head side to side as if all of this was Roxas' fault. "See… that's what you get for aggravating your body and other people like that." He simply got the finger in return, laughing at the amusement he was seeing. _Hmmm… I wonder if I should try it… or not…_

"I _know_ what can make the pain go away, Roxy!" Full attention was now on the Strife, the Le Beaufeu looking ninety degrees from where he was sitting. He suddenly began leaning his tall and lanky frame over Roxas' body, his face hovering closer towards the other boy's…

… And brushed his own lips against the blonde's pale cheek…

_What… the… FUCK?!?_

As Axel calmly resumed back into his seat, Roxas' face began to flush several shades of burning red in harmony with his own body temperature rising. Mouth left at an _o_ shaped and eyes widened, he just wasn't sure on how to react to the situation. Was he supposed to be mad? Sad? Angry? Frustrated? Oblivious? Happy? Excited? What?

"I—… I—" The blonde's words were stuck in his throat, not wanting to come out unless they were the right ones. "I—… I have to go the bathroom… Excuse me…" He tried to get up from his laying position in a casual manner. He hissed as his sides protested once again from the awkward movements he was forced to make.

"Hey dude, you need any help?" Axel tried to offer his assistance, but was shot down immediately as the Strife nearly wobbled straight into place.

"Nah, I'm cool, really…" Roxas refused to make eye contact with Axel as he made his way to the bathroom in the hallway, the sound of the TV becoming fainter and fainter. He flicked on the light as he closed the door behind him. Once shut, he leaned his back against the wooden surface, exhaling heavily as he placed a hand against the flushed cheek that was touched by someone other than him.

_Dude… what was THAT all about…_

He tried to explore deeper in his mind and with thoughts of the events that occurred at the party… er, before the… _incident_. He knew that for some reason whenever he gazed at the tall, lanky, spiky redhead…

That particular feeling in his emotions would suddenly appear.

"What the hell is going on with me?" Roxas leaned on his hands on the counter of the sink as he gazed at his reddened reflection on the mirror, staring intently into his own pool of deep blue eyes. He relinquished the gaze when his eyes began to look elsewhere, particularly at the bathroom's features. The blond noted for two guys living together, the petit room was very clean and spacious. Furry sky blue bathroom rugs lie on the floor against the white tile, while a decorative shower curtain sealed off the bathtub. In addition, several small-framed artworks adorned the flowery wallpaper. Lastly, the scent was extremely pleasant, thanks in part of the Glade air freshener plugged into the wall.

"Nice bathroom…" Roxas roughly chuckled at himself since he knew he was trying to avoid the subject of Axel and what just happened. He tried to calm himself down by washing his face with cold water. He flinched a bit as the contrasting temperatures collided onto his skin, trying to find an agreeable temperature for the blond to stand. Though it did help manage to tone down the redness on his skin to a minimum, he was still mentally dazed.

"Ugh, what to do… what to do…" The Strife tried to keep a low tone of voice in hopes of nobody being able to hear him, especially Axel. Suddenly, an epiphany of sorts struck his mind as he quickly jerked his head up to face the mirror before scrutinising his chequered wristband covered wrists.

"Hmmm…" Roxas began to slowly slide off the wristband he had on, exposing the scarred skin he kept hidden from the world. "Well… if this'll calm me down…" He pulled out his wallet. Opening it, he zipped open a compartment and took out a cold silver blade. Putting liquid soap on it and carefully rubbing it, the Strife rinsed the blade with nearly scalding hot water before letting it bask in extremely chilly water. Turning off the faucet and wiping the blade dry with his shirt, Roxas took a few steps towards the bathtub, slightly moving the shower curtain to the side as he took a seat on the tub's ledge.

"Should I?" The blond hesitantly contemplated as he stared intently at the blade that was now resting upon the top of his left wrist. He recalled the last time he'd ever done this, there was no hesitation involved… though those times were pretty damn painful to him. But what about now? Would such circumstances that occurred in the living room earlier justify the use of the blade?

"I guess so…" He shrugged as he let the frigid blade come in contact with himself. He gritted his teeth a bit as the blade broke the top layer of his skin open. A small stream of warm and red liquid began to slowly gush out of the newly made wound and slither along his pale skin. More blood began to rush out as Roxas let the blade run down a bit more to expand his wound. What he failed to notice was that the cut he made was deeper than in previous times.

Finally putting the blade down at the side, he intensely gazed as the warm liquid started to form a river-like path along his wrist, snaking along to his palms as the blood filled the grooves on his hand. As soon as red began to drip from his fingertips onto the white porcelain tub, he loosened his posture as he rested his head on the tile wall lining, sighing in comfort. This had to be the most relaxed Roxas has ever been in a long time. Despite the small stinging sensation coming from his wrist, he enjoyed the serenity and peace of mind that surrounded him.

"I haven't felt this much as ease…" the blond began to yawn in a very tiresome manner. "Since… for—… forever..."

And with that, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

---

* * *

_**KNOCK**_

_**KNOCK**_

_**KNOCK**_

"ROXY!!! Are you okay in there? Open the door!!!" Roxas immediately awakened as he heard the sound of pounding and Sora's voice penetrating through the wooden door. He wasn't sure how exactly he managed to fall asleep on the tub's ledge, but—

"Oh… God…" Roxas quietly shrieked as he saw his left hand nearly covered in coagulated blood, a trail in the bathtub towards the drain following right after. He shook his head side to side in order to wake himself up a bit and stood up to make his way towards the sink. However, the moment he stood upright, his body swayed a bit as he began to see dots in his vision. "Ugh…" He held his right hand over his forehead as he began to lean on the wall.

"ROXY!!!" Sora knocked on the door even hard. "Are you okay in there?!? Did you fall asleep or something?!?"

"I'm fine Sora!" The blond replied towards the door, still keeping a hand on his temple. "Really I am… it's just that the… uh..." He tried to seek some sort of a valid excuse rather than telling him the truth. Who knew how Sora would react if Roxas told him what he'd been doing for what seemed like an hour or so. _Freak! What the hell am I supposed to tell Sora?_

"Roxy, are you feeling sick?" The Strife could tell that the brunet outside was leaning right onto the door.

"Uh… yeah… must be the poutine I guess I had earlier…" _Ugh… such a lie!!! But that's all I can think of for the moment!!!_

"Bullshit!!!" Sora chortled from the outside, pounding hard on the door in laughter. "No one ever gets sick from such a heavenly dish!!! C'est impossible!!!"

"Well… I… er— have a sensitive digestive system…" Roxas rolled his eyes at that remark. _Again... such lies!!! Surprised Sora hasn't picked up on it yet… though he does seem like an oblivious dude…_

"Ha!!! Right!!!" Sora laughed off once again before his voice became fainter and fainter, indicating that he was now walking away from the door. "Il y a un bouteille de Pepto in the medicine cabinet if you need some, 'ya damn _pussy_, hahaha!!!"

Roxas scrunched his face at what the brunet called him, but decided to ignore it for time being. Recollecting his senses, he strode over to the sink and began to hastily wash away the blood that dried and stuck itself on his skin, yelping slightly at the cold water washing over his wound. The basin was nearly covered in red in contrast to the pure whiteness it was once earlier. Cleaning up the evidence in both the sink and the tub, Roxas flushed the toilet in order to make look like he had to take a crap really badly in accordance to what he stated earlier to Sora.

Washing his hands once again and putting the wristband back on, the blond made his way back to the living room, finding Sora on the couch watching TV. He also noticed a few additional things as well: the boxes and bottles of alcohol in the kitchen, and the lack of presence from Demyx and Axel.

"Feeling alright, Roxy?" Sora smiled and turned to face a deadpan looking Roxas.

"Yeah, I'm alright…" Roxas made eye contact with Sora for a bit to convince the brunet that he was being truthful before averting his attention towards the TV. "Where did Axel and Demyx go?"

"They'll be back in a bit. They had to go take care of a few more things before our lil' kickback tonight," Sora replied matter-of-factly before resuming his attention towards the TV.

"Oh… I see…" Roxas tried to look unfazed, but couldn't help it inside. _Did he leave right after I went into the bathroom for a really long ass time?_

"Yo Roxy!" The blond turned his attention back at the brunet and caught the plastic bag that was lanced towards him. Scrutinising it closely he noticed that the bag contained…

… Several wrapped joints.

"Dude!!! Where'd you get this?!?" A smile crept onto Roxas' face.

"J'ai mes hook-ups, hehehe…" Sora giggled as he pulled out a lighter. "Shall we?"

Roxas took another look at the carefully wrapped MJ's inside the plastic before turning his gaze at a grinning brunet. "Yes, we shall…"

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_Don't forget to review :-D _

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**The Usual Translations**

**Quelle honte** – what shame

**Je suis très triste** – I am very sad

**Bouteille** – bottle


	12. The Aftermath of the Kiss

**Author's Note: **Haaaaaaarrrrrrrrroooooo everyone!!! Yes, yes, I know what everyone's gonna say… "WTF!!! Where the hell have you been???", "I thought you've fallen off the face of this planet!!!", "I thought you gave up on the story?!?!?", etc… No, I will never give up nor forget about this story for sure!!! It's just that this quarter has been really demanding and I've felt like I've never been able to rest until Thanksgiving break (btw, I hope that everyone had an awesome [American] Thanksgiving and Black Friday!!!).

So yup, I'm back =)

And now for this chapter: It's quite short since I'm really supposed to be writing my term paper right now, but I couldn't get this story out of my mind, so I decided to release something for y'all to read!!! Hope it's written to your pleasure!!!

_And with that… ENJOY CHAPTER 12!!! DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!!!_

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Just a few moments ago, Roxas faced his most awkward situation yet ever since settling in Québec: having Axel placing a small kiss on his cheek in order to "_remedy the pain"_ that he was dealing with. As a result, he was forced to go to the bathroom in order to avoid any further confrontation about what just happened, having only to cut his wrist a lot deeper than previous times to attain a state of relaxation. Before all has ended, Roxas was awakened by knocking Sora outside the door… only to find that he lost an immense amount of blood and leaving a mess in the tub.

Now with that behind him, Roxas can now finally be in a state of normalness… and _bliss_ as his eyes gazed upon the plastic bag of joints that Sora tossed him.

"Shall we?" Sora inquired with a goofy smirk painted on his face, suggesting he was ready to engage in a session of being… well, high.

"Yes, we shall…" The smile on Roxas became bigger as he and Sora began to walk over towards the brunet's room, the exact same place where they first had a smoke out…

And incidentally, the first major activity they did together as friends.

"Hehehe, this would be our second time, Roxy!" Sora became awfully giddy as he shut the door behind him and slightly closed the blinds in order to create that _atmosphere_ of sorts as some New Found Glory music blared from his iMac.

"Jeez, someone's getting all gi— Are you fuckin' kidding me?" Roxas scratched his head as he raised an eyebrow, emitting off a slight glare as the brunet flicked on the switch of his disco ball party light device.

"Aww, allez Roxy…" Sora began to gaze at the colourful lights being emitted by the machine along the walls, giggling like a five-year old child in a candy store. "Don't 'ya think it adds some _coolness_ to the atmosphere?"

The blond couldn't help but to smack his own forehead at the Leonheart's remark. "Wow… really Sora? _Really_?"

"Hehehe…" was the only reply he received from Sora as the spiky brunet pulled out a lighter from the desk drawer. He plopped himself onto the bed next to Roxas as the blond began to pull out the MJ's that were in the baggie.

"Dude, you got four of these?" The Strife scrutinised the wrap he held between his fingers, seemingly trying to critique its quality and making sure it's up to his _standards_.

"Yup, yup…" Sora smiled as he began to light up the ends of the two sticks he had in his hand. "Four for the price of two. How 'bout that?"

"How'd you score on that?" Roxas' tone signalled a sudden spark in curiosity. "I bet you had to make someone super happy with a lil' somethin' _somethin' _eh? Hehehe..." The blond jokingly supplemented to his response as he chuckled. However, he toned it down as he realised Sora seemed a bit off with the remark.

"Heh… heh… right…" The brunet nervously chuckled in reply before immediately trying to move on to another subject. "So yeah… here's your joint dude."

"Thanks…" Roxas took the lit stick in between his thumb and index finger, gazing at it for a bit of time before proceeding to put it in between his lips. Inhaling the fumes of the cannabis, the blond felt like he was on cloud nine with just the first puff.

_Ahhhh, this is just what I needed…_ Roxas mused to himself as he inhaled deeply once again. His mind and body was progressing into a state of ecstasy and vivacity as his eyelids became heavier and his pupils constantly changed sizes. Everything around him seemingly started to morph into different objects and shapes and the colours that were sparkling around the room from the disco machine were becoming bigger and slower in movement.

"Whhhhoooooaaaaaahhhhhh…" Roxas softly squeaked, gazing up in awe when one of the blue lights from the ceiling seemingly passed over his body in mere millimetres in a dreamy fashion. "That… was… cooooool…"

"What… was… coooool…?" Roxas was slightly alarmed by the sudden voice that crept into his left ear. His head began to slowly turn towards that direction as he _puffed the magic dragon _once again. His ever-changing cerulean eyes now gazed upon an equally high brunet, whom was practically mere centimetres away. Before speaking however, his mind had other thoughts.

_You know what… I never knew that Sora was so… so…_

The blond squeezed his eyes shut momentarily before opening them back up.

_So… hot…_

"Yoooooo, Roooxxxxyyyy..." Sora seemed a bit curious to why Roxas was continuously staring at him, but just took in another puff. "Watcha' lookin' at?"

"At you…" What was supposed to be a mental muse ended up being blurted out loud by the blond since he really did not have much control of himself for the moment. He would give himself a smack on the forehead for that, but not in the current state he's in.

"At… _moi_…" Sora pointed at himself as he took another hit of weed. Exhaling out the smoke in a streamline fashion at the blonde's face, his goofy smile returned as his eyes stared dead centre at Roxas', "Heh… you like… watcha' see… eh?"

Roxas didn't respond to that right away. Instead, he scrunched his nose as the brunet next to him made a fairly suggestive… body gesture… at the remark made. Instead, he inhaled a lot deeper than before, his joint being used up in the process.

"Dude, I'm out…" The blond took out the used up stick and flicked it towards the nearby ashtray.

"T'veux un autre?" Sora's free left hand began to clumsily search for the plastic bag that had the additional joints. However, he only felt his bed sheet as he unwittingly knocked it down onto the floor as he looked for it. "Need another?"

Normally, Roxas' response would be "Yup" or "In English please…" towards the statement… but this time around, with the condition that he was in, and the fact that he smoked out a lot faster than Sora like last time, the Strife felt the need to be a bit more… _adventurous_… tonight, highly unusual for the blond.

But when you're high… what can stop you?

"Naaaahhhh…" Roxas lethargically replied as he returned his gaze up onto the colourfully filled ceiling that just looked so _far out _to him. "Let's shotgun, yeah?"

The word _shotgun _definitely caught Sora's attention, slightly coughed when that particular word went though his ears. Sure, he wouldn't mind doing such with Roxas, but what's surprising him is the fact that it's the blond who's initiating it this time around, quite the opposite from last time where the brunet initiated such.

"Uh… suuuurrrrreeeee…." Sora equally lethargically replied as he turned the joint around so that his lips were only touching the unburnt part. However, as he tried to sit up along with Roxas, he plopped back onto the bed on his back as slight dizziness overtook his senses. "Ugh… je peux pas se lever…"

"Ugh, for crying out—" An impatient Roxas surprisingly rose up…

And straddled upon Sora on the bed.

"Uhhh…" The Leonheart wasn't sure how the Strife was able to move so aggressively fast and why the two were in such a provocative position. He could slightly recall the first time that happened was when Sora sprawled upon Roxas' the first time they met. "Roxy… qu'est que tu fai—"

"Damn it! Just do it already!" Roxas demanded towards the brunet below him.

Not needing to be told twice, Sora quickly complied as he began to inhale the lit end with Roxas moving his face closer to the teen below him before only stopping mere millimetres away, his lips being a hell of a lot closer than previously. The brunet proceeded to exhale a streamline of cannabis into the blonde's mouth as said blond drew in the blissful fumes into his lungs; all thoughts relating to the bad and pain seemingly being cleansed away.

_Holy fuck dude, so good!!! _Roxas happily mused as he felt his arms failing to keep himself propped up even longer…

And once again brushed the lips of the brunet below him.

_Holy… shit!!!_

Roxas' mind started to go into panic mode just like last time as he rapidly opened his eyes, seeing Sora do the same thing, but nonetheless…

Kept his lips connected with the brunet.

_Why are my lips still on his? _

Still keeping them on Sora's, another astonishing thought rambled into his mind.

_Also… why does this feel so… good?_

Even strange for him, he abruptly broke the kiss from Sora, only to remove the used up joint that separated the two before aggressively resuming the kiss, capturing and recapturing the taste of Sora's lips.

The brunet below Roxas… _welcomed_ the kiss.

_Jesus Christ, he's a damn good kisser… and why can't I stop either?_

Sora let his arms began to caress the backside of Roxas, trying to get the blond to come in closer for a more passionate kiss. His hands roamed under the blonde's shirt, being careful not to touch his sensitive sides caused from the injury.

"Mmmm…" Roxas slightly moaned as he felt the warm pair of hands on his skin, seemingly leaving trails of fire with each touch. This caused him to unconsciously grind against the brunet's groin, the heat of the moment becoming bigger and bigger as both teens let our hearty groans from the contact.

_Dude… this feels sooooo good!!! _The blond excitedly thought. _But I know this is soooo wrong 'cuz were only friends… but FUCK IT! Might as well…_

Sora widened his eyes as he felt Roxas' tongue nipping along his lips, begging for entrance.

_Dude… we've only met since yesterday and we're just friends… les __amis seulement__… _The Leonheart hesitantly pondered, suppressing a moan as he felt the blonde's hands go under his shirt and sinfully caress his skin, flinching a bit as he felt his nipples being brushed upon. He was enjoying the touching with being high helping that euphoric feeling grow even more. _But we could be friends… with benefits!!! Fuck it, let's do it!!!_

Sora opened his mouth and felt like he was going to melt into a puddle of mush as he felt the blonde's tongue exploring his wet caverns. He tried to battle with Roxas' for dominance, making the kiss even harder and lustful, but conceded when he felt that the Strife was just too much. He was glad for his concession as he felt the blonde's tongue massaging the underside of his.

"Fuck Roxy!!!" Sora panted in between kisses, a very warm feeling starting to entangle around his crotch region. He was clearly being overwhelmed by all of the licking, caressing, and grinding the blond was doing to him, hence the laboured breathing. "You're a damn good kisser!"

Roxas chuckled at the complement as he continued to eat up the brunet below him. "Haha, merci."

After a few more moments of sensuous kissing, the brunet wanted more of Roxas as he tugged on the blonde's shirt, signifying that he wanted it off. Roxas complied and raised his arms as the article of clothing came flying off. The Strife's slim, pale yet toned body was fully exposed for Sora to take in, though the bandaged sides did make him slightly careful as he began to caress the exposed pale skin. Roxas did the same with Sora as the brunet slightly sat up before the blond was able to strip off the garment and expose Sora's own slim and toned body as well.

_Heh… must work out or play a lot of sports I guess… _The blond smiled before letting his hands caress the brunet even more as they resumed their kiss. Their grinding fervently increased as it was evident that their respective members were full blown in their pants.

"Hey Roxy?" Sora tried to be coherent as he tried to assuage his panting. It was to no avail as the blond started to work on the brunet's neck, gently biting the area where the shoulder and neck met. "Holy fuck!!!"

"Haha, watzup?" Roxas chuckled into his skin as his tongue moved from Sora's neck down to his torso, leaving trails of fire with his tongue and kisses, earning a hiss when he swirled his tongue on a hardened nipple.

"I, unh— ugh, fuck…" Sora hissed again, the blissful just becoming too much for him to speak normally.

"Hmmmm?" The blond replied as he began to kiss each toned ab his eyes gazed upon.

"Fuck… ugh, I was wondering if you— mmmmm…" Yet another moan escaped from the brunet's mouth. "I was wondering if you wanted to… to… fu—"

_**KNOCK**_

_** KNOCK**_

"Salut dudes, what's going—" The two boys couldn't believe that they were now staring at a very surprised and shocked Axel at the doorway.

_Awwww… FUCK!!! _

---

* * *

_Haha, sorry to end it so quickly!!! But it's part of the story and I sadly must get back to my term paper!!! Don't forget to review!!!_

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* * *

**The usual translations**

- **Je (ne) peux pas se lever **– I can't get up


	13. Awkward much, n'est ce pas?

**Author's Note: **Suuuuupppppp everyone!!! Sorry once again to leave everyone hanging (especially with that cleverly placed cliffy I put at the end of the previous chapter, hehehe). I've finally managed to get an update in as this was the summary of my life after the last update: managed to finish the term paper, got TOTALLY wasted on my 22nd birthday and had a party at my pad where I go to school (hahaha, if only you saw the pics on my Facebook, you'd know why =P), pulled off so freakin' many all-nighters studying for and taking on my four final exams (essentially, I must've had so any Red Bulls and Monsters that I lost count at some point on how many I've had… procrastination I tell ya…), finally being able to come home-home, chill with my friends back here, and did my Christmas shopping. So yeah, it's been hella busy for me, hahaha!!!

**Author's Note #2: **You know… it never ceases to amaze me on the kinds of readers out there who really want to take away the special aspect of multiculturalism and/or multilingualism in a story. I'd like to leave off with the following review left off by _Randomperson_ in chapter 8:

"_Could you not include french? All English would be great because not know what's being said really detracts from the story. Thanks."_

My response to that: First off: the story is practically 98% English. Secondly: There are translations at the end of the chapter (at the request of a reviewer in chapter one as I felt they were necessary to be included), or the character will mention a translation within dialogue (ex: "Je sais pas, Roxy!!!" Sora seemed at edge. "I don't know!!!"). I keep the French simple so that contextual guessing would be easier and I am myself NOT a native speaker, so I see no reason to bring in the complexity of the language into the story, unless I (rarely) must and a translation would be provided immediately. Thirdly: If you haven't noticed, the story takes place in _**Canada**_**, **not the United States. In addition to that, Canada is officially bilingual in English and French (though I am aware that English is prominent, except in Québec) and since the story takes place in Montréal (Dorval), **Québec**, the province where French is the official language, I need to include _**some**_ French to add to the authenticity of the story being _Québécois_. However, the story is _predominantly_ in English… So I ask: "What's the problem?" Mmkay, thanks…

_With that said… enjoy Chapter 13!!! =) _

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* * *

_Fuck dude!!! Why does shit like this always happen to me?!? Huh?!? Fuck… my… life!!!_

Roxas so wanted to just disappear into thin air from his… er, current position that he was in right now… _straddled _on top of a shirtless Sora in a provocative fashion… with his own shirt missing, exposing his bandaged pale torso… in front of _Axel_, out of all people. Sure, if it were a total stranger at the door, it would've still been bad… but _different_ as he wouldn't give a fuck if the person cared or not. Currently, this was different, however.

"Uhhhhhhh…" was all that escaped from the Strife's mouth, still speechless at the sudden appearance of the redhead who still donned an expression of shock and confusion. His face turned paler and colourless with every raging pulse of his heart beating in his chest like an uncontrollable beast.

Sora wasn't any different either from the blond on top of him as he felt his own skin losing that sun kissed tone in favour of being pale white, matching the paint in the hallway very soon. "Axel… qu— qu— quelle surprise que t'es rentré si tôt…" The brunet's voice was shaky, something Roxas has yet to see with him.

Despite Sora's effort to use dialogue to diffuse the situation's awkwardness, Axel continued to gaze at the dudes on the bed in much bewilderment, silence once again dominating the air, though he was staring at the blonde's exposed upper body quite closely, trying to make it not so obvious.

"Hahaha… ha… ha…" Sora once again tried to lighten up the mood with one of his childish giggles. "Awkward much, n'est-ce pas? Hehehe, quelle tension..."

In reply, Axel finally showed some sort of animation by raising an eyebrow, gingerly rubbing his chin with this right hand. "Riiiiggggghhhhhhtttttttt, tu peux dire _awkward much _encore une fois…" Axel tried to force out a light chuckle, which did get Sora to smile, though Roxas still masked on a startled visage, especially within his eyes. "It's very fitting I'd say… considering I did open the door… to find you two _practically_ eating each other up… half _naked_ on your bed…" The redhead said the latter of his speech bluntly, causing Sora to nervously chuckle. Roxas, on the other hand, started to turn from pale white into rosy red.

"Hahaha, well—… uh… Axel, you see—… er… ça c'est tr— très clair que—… um…" Sora desperately tried to tap-dance his way out of the situation with something clever, but failed miserably as he continued to utter incoherent expressions in both English and French.

Roxas, still gazing at the redhead who kissed him on the cheek earlier, attempted to move the muscles around his mouth to form a nervous smile of his own, but instead uttered a strange sound.

"Alors…" Axel clapped his hands together as he began to intertwine his own fingers together. "I guess… I'll leave you two lovebirds alone, yeah? À plus…" He nodded at the two boys before hastily closing the door. Now Roxas and Sora were along together once again, still in the same position they left off with before they were interrupted from the outside.

"Dude… look, um…" Roxas finally managed to utter out words as he continued to stare deeply into the oceanic eyes of Sora. As the effects of the cannabis were quickly starting to wear off, he soon realised even more of the magnitude of the situation the two engaged in earlier. He wanted to seek shelter somewhere away from another human being and just scrutinise on why he even engaged in a makeout session with his friend and neighbour.

"Yeah?" Sora innocently smiled, trying to ease any feelings going on in the room.

"I—… uh, well—…" The Strife was finally realising that he was still in a precarious position on top of the brunet. He slowly stood back up, grabbed the once discarded shirt on the floor, and proceeded to cover his upper body once again.

_Dude, I can totally quote the lyrics from that one song by Paramore: "How did we get here? I used to know you so well…" (1)_

"Lo—… look dude…" Roxas intertwined his hands behind his head as he began to walk towards the nearby window and open it to let in some light; deliberately looking away from the half-naked brunet still sprawled on the bed. "I don't know what came over me earlier…"

_Whoa… like no way, you dipshit… _Roxas' inner voice sarcastically told him in the back of his mind.

"But... how about that… we forget all this happened… and move on with our lives, yeah?" The blonde turned around with a slight smile on his face, only to see a spaced out Sora lying on the bed. "Dude, hello! Did you hear anything that I said?"

"Wha—… what? What did you say?" Sora snapped out of his stupor as he heard the blonde's unusual sharp tone of voice pierce his eardrums.

Roxas softly growled deep in his throat, evidently irritated as he slapped a hand on his forehead. "I _said_, let's just forget everything that just happened... y— you know… after our smoke out, yeah?"

Sora still had a perplexed look on his face for an inordinate amount of time, but soon changed into a small grin as he nodded. "O— okay then, that's fine. I mean, if that's what you want…"

_Oh thank God, that's a relief… _Roxas softly smiled as he grabbed the carton of menthols on the brunet's desk. "Mind if I have some?"

"Oh no, go ahead," Sora gestured the okay as the brunet took a few sticks and grabbed the lighter.

"Wanna join?" The blond opened the door to the hallway where he would make his way to the patio.

"Yeah sure," the brunet nodded. "But… uh… you go on ahead of me. There's something I need to take care of first."

Roxas simply raised his eyebrow in slight confusion. "Okay… then I guess I'll see you out back then?"

---

* * *

_"Forget everything that just happened"? _

Roxas' words echoed throughout Sora's mind. He wasn't sure on how to react to it exactly, since the brunet did rather enjoy the lustful moments earlier with the blond. However, he wanted to be careful on what to say from now on and not to scare away his new friend and just maintain the status quo… for now, that is.

"Yoooooo, Sora?!?" Roxas nearly raised his voice, snapping Sora out of his stupor.

_Damn, Roxy was talking to me? _Making it look like he was paying attention, Sora simply nodded yes in reply. "Right, right…" he assured the blond at the door before it was finally shut, leaving Sora alone in his room. The Leonheart aggravatingly sighed as his usual happy façade instantly disappeared in favour of frustration, covering his face with his hands.

_I can't simply just __**forget**__ what just happened earlier, Roxy… ugh, weak…_

Growling as he unveiled his face for the outside world to see, Sora got up and began to look for his shirt. He found it on top of his lamp on the nightstand by his bed, hastily grabbing it and covering his once exposed upper body. The brunet walked towards his door and was about to turn the knob of his door until his nagging conscience kicked in.

_Dude… I know I said that Roxy and I would just be friends… but…_

Sora lightly banged his head against the door's cool wooden surface.

_J'pense__… I think..._

The brunet inhaled deeply once more, banging his head against the door again before letting his mind continue.

_I'm falling for Roxas… _

---

* * *

Roxas made his way to living room where he approached the sliding glass doors that led to the patio.

"What the hell?" The blond seemed a bit startled, quirking an eyebrow. His cerulean eyes gazed upon a redhead with a cigarette in his mouth, leaving over the railings of the patio and looking onto the grassy path below. "I thought you left already."

Axel simply scoffed at the remark as he took in another soothing puff, discarding the used up cigarette onto the ground below. "Dude, I guess someone wants me to leave…"

_Yeah, wouldn't we all… _

Roxas stifled a laugh and smirk at his mind's remark. "Nah, I'm just saying… you know… eh, whatever…" The brunet expertly flicked a cig into his mouth, lighting the end up in a matter of seconds and being able to enjoy the minty flavour right away.

"Dude, someone's an expert…" The redhead whistled as he turned around, letting his back rest against the railing while the blond leaned forward onto it, leaving the two facing opposite directions. Roxas took in another hearty intake of tobacco and nicotine, letting the smoke circulate within his lungs before expelling it through his nose. For an inordinate amount of time, the two were surrounded in an atmosphere of complete silence, save for the occasional cars and people opening doors and whatnot and the sounds of kids playing echoing in the distance that somewhat broke the silence.

_Dude, this is just adding to the awkwardness that's been up since earlier… _Roxas tried to maintain an emotionless façade, trying desperately hard not to look at the redhead next to him. However, that ended as he dropped the carton of cigarettes from suddenly moving his hands in his hoodie's pockets… right in front of Axel's foot.

_Once again, I must stress that… this world must hate me soooo much…_

"Dude..." The blond turned around when he heard the redhead's voice go through his ears. He looked at Axel holding the carton in his hands, trying to give it back to him.

"Thanks…" Roxas graciously, yet softly, spoke as he quickly took the carton out of the other dude's hand, putting it back in his hoodie's pocket, and quickly turned back around to face the grassy patch below.

"Heh, must've been quite the first couple of days for you here in Montréal, eh?" Axel lightly chuckled, a small smile painted on his face. His jade-coloured eyes turned to look at the blond beside him, hoping to maybe get a glimpse of a pair of oceanic-coloured eyes as well. Sadly, it was not meant to be as he caught a glimpse of just his back turned away from him. "I mean… I don't know many people who spend their first night at a hospital in a new city and who practically makes out with his new neigh—… er… —bour… er… uh…" Axel slowed down and simply ceased as he realised on what he was saying, noticing that Roxas had slightly flinched at the latter part of his sentence. "Uh… my bad, dude…"

Roxas still had his face scrunched up after hearing the basic summary of his life so far in Montréal. In other words: it really _sucked_!!!

"Nah, no worries… I guess…" The blond discarded the used up cigarette and wasted no time in putting a fresh new one in his mouth. Dead air dominated the entire patio space once again between the two... that is, until the Le Beaufeu spoke up.

"Dude… I just gotta know… and be _honest_ with me… got that memorized?" Roxas couldn't help but to roll his eyes at that seemingly Axel-esque remark as the redhead straightened his posture but still kept his gaze on the brick exterior of the apartment building. "From what I saw earlier…"

_Oh, God no, please?!? _Roxas was already anticipating what Axel was going to say. _MUST we talk about what happened earlier?!?_

"Do… you like Sora?"

_Fuck, I knew it…_

"NO!!!" Roxas hastily replied in a defensive tone as he quickly turned around to finally make eye contact with Axel's pair of green orbs. "I— er… don't roll that way with dudes man!!!"

"Oh, vraiment? REALLY?!?" Axel growled out a deep yet somewhat intimidating laughter, not believing a single word coming out of the blonde's mouth. "Then what do you call that what I walked in—"

"_Look _dude!!!" Unconsciously, Roxas abnormally grabbed Axel by his shirt with both hands, despite the difference in stature, irritability evident on his face. The redhead was a bit startled by the sudden action, but managed to keep that vexatious smirk on his lips. "It was _nothing_, okay? Nada! Zippo!"

"Alright dude… alright… just… calm yourself down…" The Le Beaufeu managed to get the Strife's surprisingly strong grip off of his shirt. "J'ai raison… you _are_ feisty… comme une tigre, j'pense, hehehe…"

The blond simply sighed in irritation as he looked away from the redhead once again. "Yeah… whatever you said…"

"Look here, _Roxy-the-emo-dude_…" Though it looked like the teen next to him wanted to slaughter him, Axel still felt the urge to push his buttons… yet he didn't really know why, and it acted more like a reflex then something on command. He chuckled when he received yet another death glare from the blond. "I don't care if you like dudes or chicks… or both. Hell, I myself go both ways…"

The last sentence definitely got Roxas' attention, eyes widened and all. _Dude… did he just admit to me that he's bi? Like, whoa man… though I should've realised it earlier when he kissed me on the cheek earlier… damn I'm so oblivious… _

"But c'mon Roxy, ya gotta tell me if you like Sora or not?"

Roxas wasn't sure why Axel was pressing on the issue. Sure, it was a shock to see what the redhead had walked in on earlier, but he asserted that it wasn't normal for someone to keep bringing it up… or is it?

"Axel, I already told you…" The blond turned around once again to face the redhead. "Sora and I are just friends. What happened earlier… w— well, the weed just took control over our… emo— emotions… or hormones… or whatever, okay? So can you stop pressing the issue?"

Axel squinted his eyes at Roxas, but then saw a serious aura and was convinced that the Strife was in-fact being honest. "Okay, okay… alors dis-moi…" Suddenly, Axel put both of his on the Strife's shoulder, clearly surprising him with the gesture. "_Who_ do you like then?"

_You. W— wait… WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY?!? _

Roxas wasn't sure on how to deal with what's happening to him on the outside and within his mind. With the dude across from him putting weight on his shoulders, tiny beads of sweat were starting to secrete out from the blonde's skin on his forehead. Axel's deep green eyes were like laser beams shooting into him, trying to seek some sort of answer from the depths of his mind.

_Oh dude, this is so weak… _

"I— er… I…" Every time Roxas stumbled with his words, Axel became more intrigued at the possible answer he was about to be given, moving his face closer to the blonde's and adding more weight to his shoulders.

_Dude… why is he moving his face closer to mine and putting more weight on me… er, rather my shoulders? Ugh, it's not helping for the fact that I had admitted to myself that Axel was… hot… but with what happened earlier… fuck, I just don't know anymore… _Luckily, the Strife was able to muse and ramble at the same time, still giving the Le Beaufeu a non-coherent response. "I—… er… no one, really…" _Holy shit dude, that just made me sound like a little kid denying that I don't like someone…_

Axel immediately stopped his _advance_ towards Roxas and lifted his weight away from the blonde's shoulders. "Wh— what did you say?"

"I said _no one_..." Roxas used a more assertive tone this time. He noticed that as the taller teen withdrew away from him, a very gingerly hurtful expression could be seen on Axel's face, though it was hard to interpret as it only lasted for a second and it could've been just the redhead staring off into space for a moment.

"Heh… such a lie…" Axel looked up to the fiery orange sky, indicating that the sun was setting already. "But I'll take your word for it Roxy…" He ruffled Roxas' hair, much to the blonde's dismay. "I'll catch you later tonight…" And with that, the lanky teen jumped over the railing of the patio and headed down the grassy patch until it ended at the sidewalk down the distance.

Roxas exasperatingly sighed as he was finally alone on the patio. He rubbed his temples, trying to make sense of what just happened earlier with Axel.

_Was it an expression of hurt I've managed to see on his face for that one second after I told him I didn't like anyone? If so… does that mean he likes me? _

---

* * *

Later that night, Sora's apartment was anything but quiet. Filled with his friends, the place became the pad for a kickback. Many were drinking the night away with all of the alcohol purchased earlier from Demyx and the brunet… courtesy of their hook-ups of course.

Amid the atmosphere of conversations, laughter, and blaring rock music, Roxas decided to stay out of the centre of the festivities and instead became an observer of his surroundings in the kitchen... with a bottle of Heineken in his right hand of course.

_Heh, who says you can't have fun just by observing?_

He noted that many of the people that were present did happen to be at the party at Naminé's place last night. This included Riku, Kairi, the fat dude who spilt his drink onto Roxas a.k.a. Pence, Axel of course, book-loving Zexion (in which he noted the same people that were sporting on those black hoodies with the Roman numerals on them, save for two particular dudes that he did NOT want to see from the night before), and Naminé herself. In face, she came right over to Roxas as she was grabbing herself a drink.

"Hey… _Roxas_, right?" The blonde dressed in a white sundress with a pair of pink high-top Chucks approached the spiky blond dude.

"Right… and you're Naminé if I remember…" Roxas took a swig of his beer.

"Hehe, right. Naminé Lumière to be exact…" Said girl reached for the bottle opener, enjoying her bottle of Corona as soon as she got rid of the lid.

"Ah, I see…" Roxas simply nodded as he took another swig. "Enjoying the kickback?"

"Yeah, it's pretty chill. A much needed tone-down from last night," she chuckled, the blond by her doing the same. "Oh and uh… I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened to you last night. I feel responsible since it was at my own party."

_Ugh, not the self-pity…_

"It's okay… I mean, you couldn't really do much since you had other matters to attend to or whatnot about the party. Really, it couldn't be helped…" Roxas tried to reassure the blonde next to him.

"Still…" The Lumière softly sighed as she took another swig, putting in a lime into the beer to add to the flavour. "I'm glad that you got out okay."

"Thanks..." The Strife managed to crack a small smile. Suddenly, another voice called out Naminé's name.

"Well, it's nice seeing you again, Roxas. See you later!" And with that Naminé was in the living room with the others as Roxas nodded.

"Hey, um… Roxy?" Roxas tensed at the antagonising nickname, but realised on whose voice he'd just heard. He turned around to face the person that he just made out with earlier in the day.

"Oh… uh… 'sup Sora…" The blond felt his face flush into rosy red as his blue eyes made direct contact with Sora's own.

"I was, er—… wondering if we could talk out back in the patio?" Sora's tone of voice was rather serious, not normal for Roxas, who was used to hearing the brunet speak in a happy, go lucky, bubbly tone.

_Dude… he sounds so serious… I hope it's not relating to what happened earlier… _

"Uh… sure, dude…" Roxas nodded in reply.

The two made their way out to the patio, going through the sliding glass doors. As Sora slid the door closed, only a faint sound from the kickback's ambiance could be heard while the sound of crickets chirping under the night Montréal sky became more apparent.

_Shit man… I wonder why we're both back here…_

"So… uh… watzup Sora?" Roxas tried to crack a smile, wanting to lighten up the seemingly tense mood.

"Roxy… I just… wanted to talk about what happened earlier today…" Sora tried to say matter-of-factly, but still staggered with his words.

_Shit, I knew it…_

"Sora, I thought we agreed on to forget about what happened and not to speak of it again?" Roxas thought Sora would comply with such a simple agreement, but bringing it back up again, especially earlier with Axel, was starting to irritate him just a bit.

"Ouais, I know, b— but…" The Leoheart seemed lost with his words.

"But _what_?" The Strife was determined to get to the bottom of this and end it as quickly as possible.

"B— but… when you said to forget about it… Roxas, I simply just _can't_ forget about it… knowing the degree of what happened especially…"

_What did he mean by that? Because it was hot and he— Damn it, why did I have to think about it that way?!?_

"Sure it's easy, Sora…" Roxas was trying his best to simply the complexity of the situation. "You simply just wipe it out of your mind and just forget abou—"

"GODDAMN IT, ROXAS!!! IT'S NOT THAT EASY!!! ÇA C'EST PAS FACIL!!!" Roxas flinched when Sora suddenly snapped. There was no way he expected to brunet to behave in this bizarre manner. "It's just… not that… _easy_…"

"S— Sora…" The blond tried to speak, nervousness evident from his voice as hearing Sora yell at him like that made him kind of scared. "I— I just wanna s—" He was cut off when the brunet suddenly grabbed his arm. "Whoa dude, wh—"

"Roxas… I've been thinking about this all day and I've gotta get this outta my chest avant je me tue…" Sora stared deeply into Roxas' eyes for a good amount of time before continuing. "Roxas… I th— think—… I think I… I… lo—"

"SOOOOORRRRRRRRAAAAAAAA!!!" Both boys turned around and focused their attention at the direction of the living room. Looking through the glass carefully, they can see all of their guests staring at…

… a fuming Leon standing next to a tired-looking Cloud.

"WHAT… THE… HELL… IS… GOING… ON… HERE?!?"

Sora and Roxas could only say the following words: "Ohhhhhhhh shit, dude...."

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_Don't forget to review =) _

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**Post Author's Note: **I was just wondering if I can get everyone's consensus with this question: As you've probably noticed, this chapter featured a section in Sora's POV of sorts… and I would like to know if you all would like to see more of Sora's POV? And also would you like to see a subplot going on with Cloud and Leon? Hehehe, just let me know!!! This is a story for all the reader's out there and it would be awesome if I can also get some input from those readers as well =)

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**Translations**

**Quelle surprise que t'es (tu es) rentré si tôt – **What a surprise that you're back so soon (_**si **_in this case is used as _so _in the context like _very _or _much_)

**Encore une fois**** – **once again

**Clair – **clear

**Tigre – **Tiger

**Lumière** ** - **light. I gave Naminé such a surname since she is quite unusual for a _Nobody _in the KH games and the fact that her white dress and blonde hair were bright colours, furthering adding to the description.

**Avant je me tue**** – **Before I kill myself

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(1) _Decode_ by Paramore.

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**Quick French Pronunciation Lesson**

- Words ending in _-er _like **parler **are pronounced like "ey" like in "hey"

- Words ending in _-ere_ such as **première **are pronounced like "air"

- Words ending in _-ai(s) _such as **Portugais **are pronounced like "ey" as well

- Words ending in _-eau _such as **Barbeau **are pronounced like a long O, like "Oooooooohhhh"

- General rule of thumb: never pronounce the last letter in a word unless it has an accent (ex: **é**). Examples: **marche **sounds like "marsh", but **marché** sounds like "mar-shay"


	14. A Not So Canon Christmas

**Author's Note: **As the name of the chapter suggest, _A Not So Canon Christmas_, this chapter is **NOT **canon to the story, but rather… a Christmas present to all of my dedicated readers out there =) Think of this being a bonus side-chapter of sorts.

I wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas!!! =)

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Roxas and Sora lazily gazed outside of the patio window by the Christmas tree at the Leonheart's residence, sighting the Montréal landscape being blanketed with fresh white snow falling from the sky. Also, they saw several streams of smoke flowing upwards towards the heavens as many others have deemed it useful to use their fireplaces in this cold and chilly Christmas Eve, measuring at -7 degrees Celsius, according to the latest television reports. Luckily, the two teenage boys were bundled in warm, thick clothing, sipping away at some hot chocolate, listening to some Christmas carols on TV as the central heater circulated warm air in the apartment. In addition, the apartment unit's cast-iron wood-burning fireplace was in full swing since Leon decided to kick-start it for the holiday season.

"J'adore la neige…" Sora happily smiled, taking in another sip of the delicious hot chocolate Leon had prepared for them both.

Roxas kept his gaze on the little specks of white falling from the sky with much awe. This was quite understandable since this was his first time witnessing snowfall that was not on TV or that fake stuff in Disneyland and Knott's back in Southern California. He even made a little _o _with his lips when his blue eyes focused upon a falling snowflake. "Whoooaaaa…"

"I see that you like the snowfall, Roxy…" Sora chuckled as he averted his attention to the seemingly spaced out blond.

"Uh-huh…" Roxas took a sip of his warm beverage as well, replying in a robotic-like fashion, amusing the brunet next to him that was still snickering.

"Hahaha. Well, I guess we'll be waking up to white Christmas tomorrow morning."

"_White Christmas_?" Roxas cocked an eyebrow at the unfamiliar term. "What's that?"

Sora simply laughed. "Oh yeah, you're from L.A., hahaha... Well, a _White Christmas_ is when there is snow on the ground the day of Christmas. And by the looks of the snowfall outside, that seems very likely…"

"Ohhhhh… I see, dude…" Roxas concurred, only seeing what Sora had described in the movies. "I guess it makes it all the better, right?"

"Haha, right…" the Leonheart smiled before sipping up the last of his beverage, a sad expression being shown on his lips due to the lack of deliciousness. "Awwww, Leon, je veux beaucoup du chocolat chaud!!!"

"Damn, Sora…" Leon said in a wondering tone while maintaining his focus on preparing for tonight's dinner _à minuit_, along with Cloud's help as well. "Ça c'est like your third or fourth cup, n'est-ce pas?"

"Ehhh… si…" Sora seemed a bit embarrassed by his older brother mentioning the number of servings he had, scrunching his face when he heard Roxas laugh as well. "But it's soooooo good!!!"

"I'll make more après le souper."

"I guess…" Sora shrugged as he flopped onto the warm couch, Roxas joining his as well.

_You know what… _Roxas stared up towards the ceiling as he mused. _This is actually the time of year that I feel hella depressed…_ He then took the time to note his surroundings. The apartment overall was well decorated for the occasion. The flashing colourful lights and the bright and shiny ornaments, not to be outdone by the glowing star on top of the tree of course, further beautified the Christmas tree by the sliding glass doors. Adjacent to the cast-iron stove fireplace hung four pairs of stockings filled with goodies. The walls were filled with other décor and knickknacks, such as bountiful garlands, lights, Frosty the Snowman, Santa and his reindeers, and more. _I guess this is the first time… in a LONG TIME… that Cloud and I got to celebrate a "proper" Christmas… _A small smile began to creep onto the younger Strife's face.

"Dinner's ready!" Cloud hollered out to the teens on the couch. They both looked at the clock. It read 11:58pm.

"Dude, two minutes before Christmas!!!" Sora happily skipped for table, causing Roxas to nod while managing a smile.

"Caaaaalllllmmmmmm down, Sora…"

As soon as all four of them were situated at the dining room table with bounds of food for their eyes to feast on (a feat they would have to repeat again for Christmas dinner), they squabbled a bit on who should say grace (in which Cloud did the honours, losing in a game of _not it_ via touching one's nose) and delightfully began to feast until…

_DING-DONG_

All four at the table stopped at what they were doing, clearly startled by the unexpected sound of the doorbell at this time of evening.

"Hmmm… wonder who could it be…" Cloud began to wonder, his eyes, along with everyone else's, still glued to the door.

"Sora, could you go answer the door?" Leon requested of his little brother.

"It's probably Santa needing directions." Everyone managed a small laugh at the spiky brunet's remark. Opening the door, his mouth gaped open at the sight of the visitor. "Axel?"

"Y— yup…" a snowed-on and shivering Axel simply nodded with a holiday bag on his right hand. "M— Merry C— Chri— Christmas…"

"Dude, come on inside! You must be freezing!" Sora dragged his friend inside the warm apartment, the tall and lanky redhead evidently appreciated by this as his face became more relaxed, the warm-air ridding the coldness.

"Hey, Axel! Joyeux Noël! Comment ça va?" Leon greeted his brother's friend.

"Joyeux Noël à vous aussi!" The Le Beaufeu happily replied back before making eye contact with the two blondes at the table. "Merry Christmas Cloud and _Roxy!_"

While Cloud replied with the same politely, Roxas tensed as always with hearing that antagonising nickname. "Merry Christmas ya' redhead."

"Sit down, sit down! Join us for dinner!" Leon happily offered.

"Merci beaucoup, Leon!" Axel quickly took the other available seat and began to partake in the feast as well. For an inordinate amount of time, everyone enjoyed the meal that Leon and Cloud had prepared, a joyous and warm atmosphere being felt by all.

"So Axel, what brings you to our neck-of-the-woods?" Sora inquired to the redhead while slicing a piece of the _Bûche de Noël_.

"Well…" Axel chewed on another piece of ham before swallowing. "Parents went to Glasgow for Christmas and it would've been lame if I spent Christmas by myself. And I just remembered that you guys were still here in Dorval."

"Didn't have any other friends to go t— OW!" Roxas rubbed his arm as Sora elbowed him quite hard.

"Haha…" Axel laughed it off. "Nah, all of 'em are out of town."

"Well, you're welcome to celebrate Christmas with us!" Sora happily offered the invite. "We're gonna open presents after dinner."

"Well…" the redhead rubbed his chin gingerly. "I couldn't impose…"

"Nonsense…" Leon began to collect the plates. "You're staying here and that's final."

"Haha, okay then. Merci beaucoup!"

As dinner finished, everyone gathered in the living room by the Christmas tree for presents. Roxas gave Cloud the latest DVD release of _The Office_, while Cloud gave Roxas a brand new chequered Billabong hoodie. Sora gave Leon a brand new pair of Vans slip-ons, while Leon gave Sora the latest _Family Guy _DVD's.

"Hey Roxy!" Sora tossed Roxas a brightly wrapped, petite-sized box. "Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!"

The blond stared at the wrapped box in hands for a few moments before a smile crept onto his face. He was simply touched at the gesture, thinking that Sora actually had the time to go out and buy a Christmas present for him. "Merci! Thanks!"

"Pas de problème…" Sora goofily shrugged off. "It was nothing."

Roxas slowly tore of the wrapping before exposing what was hidden. "Oh… fuckin'… wow…" The blond was astonished as he held in his hands a pair of black, over-the-ear, DJ style, noise-cancelling headphones that he had been wanting for awhile now. This would make his iPod listening experience much better. In addition, the headphones were complete with customised chequered shells on each headpiece and with the engraving of _Joyeux Noël, Roxy!!! Enjoy!!! – Sora_.

"I knew you've been eyeing that for a while..." Sora sheepishly smiled. "Hope you like it."

"Are you kidding me?!?" Roxas unexpectedly pulled Sora into a warm and heartfelt embrace. "I LOVE IT!!! Thank you…"

"You're welcome…" Sora smiled, patting the blonde's back before being let go.

"C'est un bon cadeau, Sora!" Leon nodded in approval.

"I agree!" Cloud added in.

"Nice choice, Sora…" Axel whistled.

"Hahaha, y'all are too kind…" the brunet began to blush.

"Okay, well since you got me the headphones…" Roxas went to grab a flat, skinny, medium sized wrapped item, giving it to the spiky brunet. "Merry Christmas, Sora."

"Awwww, Roxy!" Sora once again attached himself onto the blond. "You shouldn't have!" Roxas simply smiled in rely as the brunet began to unwrap the present.

"Oh… wow…" Inside contained a framed, colour-pencilled artwork portrait of himself in a realist perspective in full detail, his skin tone and hair colour practically matching what was on the picture, and his eyes were brought out real nicely with the shades of blue Roxas managed to use. Lastly, the words _Merry Christmas Sora! – Roxas _were inscribed on the bottom right. In other words: it was picture-perfect.

"I've been working on this for awhile in Art class…" Roxas sheepishly spoke. "I got an A on it, and so I thought it would be awesome if you could have it."

"J'ADORE TON ARTWORK!!!" Sora nearly squeezed the life out of Roxas.

"Y— you're wel— welcome!!!" Roxas chokingly replied, nearly breathing for his life when he was finally let go of.

"Hehehe, sorry…" Sora placed a hand behind his head, chuckling nervously.

"Wow!!!" Axel placed the bag that he carried with him to Sora's on the table. "How will I ever outdo you two?"

"Awwwww, Axel, you have gifts for us too?" Sora jokingly made a sad face. Luckily, Roxas and he did give gifts to all their friends earlier in the week, including Axel.

"Ouais… parce que je me sens bad and all that vous m'avez donné des cadeaux…" Axel continued to rummage through the bags.

"Oh, there's no need to worry, vraiment…" the brunet nodded, assuring there was no need to give back.

"Mais que si…" the redhead finally pulled out a wrapped item. "Joyeux Noël, Sora."

"Awwww, c'est vrai. C'est pas nécessaire…" Sora smiled, but nonetheless opened it up. Inside was a plush Stewie and Brian doll from _Family Guy_. "Awww, merci beaucoup, Axel!"

"Pas de problème, Sora. Merry Christmas!" Axel smiled, before pulling out the next item. "Here 'ya go, Roxy-the-emo-dude!!! Merry Christmas!!!"

Though he cringed a bit, he nonetheless resisted the urge to charge at Axel for the name. "Thanks dude. Merry Christmas to you too." He caught the box tossed at him. Unwrapping, his oceanic eyes soon gazed upon a plush Stan Marsh doll from _South Park_ and a new pair of black and white chequered earplugs for his gauges. "Oh… w— wow…" the Strife was clearly amazed that Axel would get him gifts that he would love. "I— I don't know how to th— thank you for this…"

"Well… " Axel walked towards the blond until the two were mere centimetres from each other, causing Roxas to look up at the tall and lanky redhead. "You _are_ standing under a mistletoe… and you can thank me by doing one thing…"

_Wait, what?!? Mistletoe?!?_

Roxas looked up towards the ceiling, confirming Axel's claim.

_Oh shit… then that means—_

Before Roxas was able to finish his musing, Axel crashed his lips onto the blonde's, clearly startling the Strife. At first, Roxas seemed to resist the kiss, but soon gave in and slightly moaned, letting Axel have complete control. Their lips captured and recaptured each others, trying to taste each other's flavour without the use of their tongue.

The three other dudes in the room simply stared at the two in shock, most notably Sora who seemed to get a little angry about the surprising stunt Axel pulled.

However, the two forgot about the others in the room as they continued their passionate kiss.

_Please Axel, don't your tongue, please don't u— TOO LATE!!!_

Roxas gasped when felt the redhead's tongue nipping at his lips, giving Axel the opportunity to have his tongue delve into Roxas' mouth, enjoying every little corner his tongue was able to touch.

"Arrête!!! Arrête!!! Okay, okay!!!" Sora broke the two apart, much to their dismay. "C'est Noël! Pas le backseat of a station wagon…"

Roxas and Axel began to blush, immediately realising on what just happened.

"And besides… you gotta do it comme ça!!!" Sora immediately grabbed a hold of Roxas' face, astonishing the blond as he crashed his own lips upon the blonde's. Trying to outdo Axel, Sora kissed Roxas even harder, hungry for the Strife as he immediately nipped the blonde's lips. Roxas gasped once again, leaving his mouth open for a brief second. Sora readily took advantage of this, loving the moans the blond emitted as he explored the wet caverns that were offered to him, loving the taste his tongue was able to partake in.

_Dude, why is everyone kissing me on Christmas?_

Before he was able to think about it much further, he began to gasp for air as Sora had let him go. "Dude!!! That was—"

"_Amazing_? Yeah, I know..." Sora confidently nodded, eyeing the redhead who looked unpleased by his actions.

"Dude, what the hell?" Axel's voice became very sharp and tense.

"What?" Sora's voice, however, was rather calm, as if nothing ever happened. "Jealous much 'cause I'm a better kisser? Roxas seems to think so."

The blond simply quirked an eyebrow at the remark. _Dude, what the he—_

"Wow, c'est vrai, Sora?" Axel simply scoffed. "Je pense que Roxas croire I'm the better kisser."

"No, I am!"

"Nope, it's me!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"I'm afraid so!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"STOP! STOP! STOP!" Roxas suddenly growled as the room became dead silent, all eyes on the blond. "Dudes… I never said that I wanted to be kissed…"

Sora and Axel looked at each other in confusion.

"But you were under the mistletoe…" Axel croaked out.

"Well… yeah… but… that's not the point…" Roxas tried to reason. "Let's just forget all about what happened and celebrate Christmas, yeah?"

"And I know the best way on how to do that!" Sora's happy voice jumped in.

"And that would be…?" Roxas looked confused.

Eyeing Axel for a bit before giving him a wink, the brunet went on to say, "One… two… THREE!!!"

And low and behold, Roxas' cheeks had two pairs of lips on each side, giving him a nice smooch on the sides. He wasn't sure if he should be happy, confused, or mortified.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, ROXY!!!" Everyone in the room shouted, a bout of hilarious laughter ensuing right after.

_Oh my God… are you kidding me?!?!?_

Though he did not liked to be joked on, he couldn't help but to laugh himself.

_Heh… I guess it was funny… oh the joy of the holidays!!!_

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**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS =) **

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**Translations**

**La neige**** – **snow

**Chocolat chaud**** – **hot chocolate

**À minuit** – at midnight.

**Bûche de Noël** – Yule log (a type of sponge cake dessert).

**Je me sens**** – **I feel (as in myself)


	15. Les Retombées After the Party

**Author's Note: **OMG! I haven't been here in SOOOOOO LOOOONNNNGGGGG! OMG, I'm truly really sorry for not updating this story for about six months, especially to all of the dedicated readers out there! I did NOT forget about you all! After the last chapter, my life went into full gear and I practically had no time whatsoever for my stories. Basically my life was like this since last December: busy, busy, midterms, finals, frat stuff, busy, busy, drama, drama, busy, last midterms, last finals, and then GRADUATION! Yup yup, I'm now an official college graduate (as of June 2010) with a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Sociology/Stats Analysis! =) And as of now… I'm still looking for a job, LOL! Which is why, with my free time (until I find employment), I can give my focus back to my stories I haven't written in so long =)

So if you've been a long time follower of this story and saying "WTF w/o the updates": I'M SOOOOO SORRY! =(

But now back to business! Yup yup, I'm back, and this chapter is sort of like a "Getting myself and the characters and story back up on its feet", so this will be a slow chapter (from the events of Chapter 13, since Chapter 14 was NOT canon) to begin with, but the next chapter will PICK UP BIG TIME! So please bear with me with this chapter since I'm getting the writer's rust outta my system, hehehe.

_Otherwise, Enjoy Chapter 15 =) _

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"SOOOOORRRRRRRAAAAAAAA!" Leon, who pretty much blew his top off to begin with at the sight his eyes held before him, hastily went inside of his now messy apartment that had the aroma of teen sweat, booze, and tobacco in the air, in search of his brunette of a little brother. While aggressively making his way through the throng of partygoers that now had their sight upon the taller Leonhart, he exhaled sharply through his nose, letting a low yet intimidating growl being sounded at the back of his throat.

"Dude! Let's get outta here… maintenant!" Someone shouted amongst the group of teens as one made a mad dash past Cloud at the door. This was the cue for all the partygoers to get the hell out of there, Cloud moving aside to leave an open pathway, feeling Leon's terrorizing aura throughout their minds. Within a matter of moments, the apartment was as empty as the Andy Williams show (1), save for the rubbish of bottles, cans, plastic cups, and other wasteful particles left behind. This was also highly evident on the hardwood floor and kitchen floor tiles as various scuffs marks from shoes were left imprinted on a floor that Leon had just mopped a few days ago. Yup, this was not helping Leon's temper going down. However, before he went into overdrive with his shouting and possibly cussing out of his little brother, his emotions suddenly calmed down when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. "Huh—"

"Leon…" Cloud tried to calm the enraged nerves of his neighbour and friend. "Just… calm down… calmez-vous…"

At first, the Leonhart just wanted to take out his anger of seeing his usually immaculate apartment turned into an instant pigsty, but after hearing Cloud's soothing voice calm his usually hot temper, he inhaled the warm, summer night's air deeply before lethargically exhaling. "Okay, okay… je suis calme… I promise…" Leon gave a reassuring smile, gently taking Cloud's hand off of his shoulder before reassessing what was left before him. "I just—… gotta find Sora… that's all…"

"Yeah, the same thing with Roxy…" Cloud added in. "You think they'd be at the patio?"

"There's only one way to find out…"

* * *

"Oh shit… oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…" Roxas continued to hear Sora's panicky voice. It wasn't helping with the fact the brunette was now hastily pacing back and forth on the patio, as if he were trying to come up with some kind of escape plan of sorts. "Fuck my life! Leon va me TUER!" Sora proceeded to put his hands over his face as he let them slowly droop downwards. "Leon's gonna KILL me!"

"Dude, Sora, just… calm down… just… calm down…" Roxas couldn't believe what was in front of him: a genuinely freaked out Sora. Sure, he's seen several cases of people freaking out in front of him, including Cloud and himself, but there was just something different when it came to Sora having what looks to be a near panic attack. This wasn't like the spiky brunette he knew. Roxas only knew the happy-go-lucky, fun-having, sometimes serious Sora. But not like this… the state Sora was in at the moment.

Inhaling the warm summer air, Roxas went through the task of calming down his best friend by placing a hand on the brunette's shoulder. He wasn't sure if he was remedying the situation or just plain being useless.

"I didn't think Leon would be home so early!" Sora harshly whispered, tensing up when he heard Leon's louder-than-life roar from inside the apartment, clearly with his name being emphasized. The younger Leonhart knew that his older brother would look for him at the patio sooner or later. "Roxy, you gotta help me out!"

"Whoa, wha—" Roxas cut himself off and slightly winced when Sora wrapped his arms around the blonde's frame, especially towards the bandaged area. In normal circumstances, he would push off the clingy brunette, but then his once hard facial expression softened when he could've sworn he heard the sounds of soft sobbing, feeling the brunette's body trembling a bit on his. "S— Sora… a— are you… c— crying?"

Sniffing his nose fairly loudly, the brunette relinquished his hold on the blonde, rubbing his eye with his arms. "N— no, I'm not… je suis pas un cry-baby…" he sniffled once again.

_Did he just say that he wasn't a cry-baby? Riiiggghhhttt… _Roxas couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow. However, he mentally smacked himself for being so insensitive at the moment. Looking once again at the distressed dude in front of him, the Strife let out a deep sigh. "Dude, look, it's gonna be alright… I mean, what's the worst that can happen to you?"

Sora froze his trembling body and sniffling for a moment and just gave Roxas a long, wide-eyed, and frightful stare, no words spoken whatsoever.

"… I'm guessing not good, huh?" the blonde stated the obvious, receiving a quick nod from the brunette across from him. In addition, he also just realised that being part of this whole eventful night would just add more to the pile of bad things he's been involved with already. On top of that, he had just remembered that he wasn't supposed to drink alcohol due to possible interactions with his medications… but yet he did have a beer earlier.

_Shit… if Cloud sees that I was a part of this as well, who knows what he'll do to me…_

And with that, the Strife deemed it necessary for them to escape from the scene of the crime.

"Sora," Roxas began to make his way over the railing of the patio to the grassy ground below the elevated platform. "C'mon, we gotta go."

The Leonhart, however, sharply raised an eyebrow in a confused fashion. "B— but, my brother already knows that I was the one who did this. How is running gonna help us?"

"I'll tell you later. J— just… come on!" Roxas hurriedly gestured his best friend to follow his lead. Sora simply shook his head in the affirmative before he himself made his way over the railing. The two teens were about to jump until—

"Sora!"

"Roxas!"

Said boys quickly froze into place as they heard their names being hollered out to them by their respective elder brothers. Sora and Roxas looked at each other with a countenance of horror painted on their faces. They knew they would both be in for it.

"Ohhhhhhhhh shit…"

* * *

_Holy shit, I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble, I'm in sooooo much fucking trouble… _Sora kept muttering to himself while sitting on the now filthy couch, fiddling with his now sweaty palms, while trying not to look up at his older brother, whom was slowly pacing back and forth along the scuffed up floor of the living room. With Roxas and Cloud outside of the patio discussing their own matter pertaining to the incident, Sora was left alone to go face to face with Leon… who did not take kindly to things out of the ordinary with Sora, as evident by his hot temper. _Je suis mort… tant mort__… I am soooooo dead…_

"Sora…" Said boy winced when he heard his older brother call out his name, but was surprised on how calm Leon was speaking to him right now. However, he still exercised extreme caution, noting how tense the air was around them mentally.

"O— ouais, Leon?" Sora replied carefully, his French-Canadian accent taking full precedence since it was just his brother and he at the moment.

Instead of a quick reply of the affirmative, Leon kept staring at the scuffed floor and the mess strewn around the living room for an inordinate amount of time. What made it worse for Sora was the fact that the aura of silence was once again taking lead. And for the younger brunette… let's just say that he hated it when it when silence takes over the middle of a conversation.

"L— Le—"

"Connais-tu la troisième règle chez nous, right?" Leon interrupted the younger one on the couch, this time his voice more elevated and firm, causing Sora to wince once again. For some reason, Leon's French accent made him sound a lot rougher and meaner when angry, compared to English.

"Th— the third r— rule of this ap— apartment?" Sora nervously managed to squeak out, albeit in a more submissive tone. He felt as if he were a dog with its tail in between his legs.

Leon sighed while rubbing his head, but tried to keep a calm mood. "Oui, Sora… et qu'est-ce que c'est? La règle?"

Once again, Sora started to rub his sweaty palms that were practically burning right now due to the level of intensity his body was facing right now. He couldn't even recall the last time he'd ever been caught or got into trouble with Leon, but he sure didn't want to reminisce since he was facing such reality right now. "L— la 3ème règle? Oh… it's uh… it's uh…" Sora shut his eyes closed for a minute, trying to anticipate and brace for impact on what was to come. "D— don't ever have a p— party here while you're gone… without your permission?"

The last part of Sora's answer definitely sent Leon over the edge. "_Without your permission_? SORA, TU N'AS JAMAIS UN PARTY ICI, AVEC OU SANS MA PERMISSION! _JAMAIS_! YOU GOT IT?"

Sora wasn't sure if he was going to cry his guts out or curl up into the fetal position… and then cry. Keeping on the submissive nature of averting his gaze away from Leon's angry aura, Sora simply sighed as he shook his head in comprehension. "Oui… je comprend… je suis désolé, Leon."

"Sora… regarde-moi…"

At first, Sora was hesitant to bring his eyes upon Leon's for the fear of looking into fiery daggers of vexation and disappointment, something typical of his older brother's demeanour at this state. However, as he brought his pool of blue eyes onto Leon's, Sora was a little relieved that his elder brother's facial expression was a bit softer at this point. "Y— yes, Leon?"

"… Don't ever let it happen again. As-tu compris?"

Sora managed to sparkle a small smile. "Oui…" he shook his head in the affirmative. "J'ai compris. It won't happen again." Hearing his brother release a huge sigh, Sora watched cautiously as his brother went towards the utility closet. He began to pull out a few contents that included—

_A mop, a vacuum, a scrubbing brush, cleaning gloves, and trash bags? _Sora let out a small sigh. _I think I know where this is going._

"Sora…" Leon began to hand out all of the cleaning contents towards his brother on the couch. "Va travaille… You have a lot to make up for this mess you've made…"

_Awwww, damn… Roxy, you better be helping me too after you talk with your brother!_

* * *

"Goddamn it, Cloud! I swear to God that I haven't been drinking at all tonight!" Roxas was nearly screaming at the top of his lungs towards his older brother, who had accused him of drinking and forcing Sora into having the little party that he and Leon (well, mostly Leon) had just broken up. Although the younger Strife did have one bottle of beer, it wasn't enough to be qualified as drinking… at least in his book. "And no, I did not put Sora up to this party scheme!"

"Well, you sure smell like you've have been having the time of your life..." Cloud calmly replied, quite contrastable to his younger brother's reactions thus far. "And—" the taller spiky blonde took another whiff of the aroma radiating from Roxas' clothing and hair, scrunching his nose in the process. "Dude, Roxy… have you been smokin' weed… AGAIN?"

"Uhhh…" Roxas knew he probably smelled like a used up bong by now… especially since Sora's room probably wreaked the scent of it right now. So was there any use for lying? "I can honestly say… I… haven't—"

"LIAR!" Cloud unusually snapped at his little brother. "I can smell it on you!"

Roxas simply rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I did have some Mary Janes. So what?"

"Oh, Jesus…" the elder Strife smacked his forehead. This would be the billionth that he'd be dealing with Roxas on the subject. But honestly, his first day at his new job at the Bank of Montréal was anything but easy today and all he wanted to do was to relax. "Honestly, I don't have time to deal with this."

"Then don't."

Cloud scowled at his little brother for the sharp and disrespectful remark, but nonetheless pretty much let it drop. "Anyways, I just wanted to make sure you're not drinking because of your medication since it might produce nasty side effect. Remember: NO alcohol!"

Although Roxas did have one beer, he brushed it off considering it was just one… and he didn't even finish it. Hopefully, a tiny bit of alcohol won't affect his body in any sort of way. "Right…"

"And you didn't talk Sora into throwing a party at their apartment?" Cloud still had the need to probe his brother with questions one last time. "It's gross as hell in there now because of it."

"No… I didn't…" Roxas sighed in irritation. "Sora was only supposed to have a few friends over, but it got out of hand."

_Dude, I am soooo lying through my teeth for you, Sora! _

"Well, nonetheless…" Cloud said as he began to make his way back into the Leonhart's residence. "Since you were an _attendee _of sorts, you should help Sora clean up their apartment. It's the least you can do…" the elder Strife pointed inside to the spiky little brunette who was now moping the floor of their kitchen.

Normally, Roxas would've complained about being tagged along to clean up a mess that he didn't start, but after looking how distressed the brunette was about cleaning the entire place by himself with Leon watching on, a slight feeling of guilt entered his heart. Sighing, he walked past his brother towards Sora in the kitchen.

"Need a hand?"

"Oh! Uh— Roxy…" Roxas flinched a bit hearing that name once again from Sora, who was a bit startled, as he looked keen on getting the floors clean as fast as possible. "Uh… yeah, sure. C'est très cool de toi."

Roxas simply raised an eyebrow.

"It's cool of you for the offer," Sora translated, as if he was reading Roxas' mind, who simply shot a small smile at the corner of his mouth.

* * *

"Cloud, you don't have to let Roxas help out Sora with the mess here…" Leon stated as Cloud and he chugged on a few bottles of unopened bottles of Heineken from Sora's party, watching their respective little brothers clean up the Leonhart residence from the patio.

"Nah, it's okay, dude," Cloud downed the remaining alcohol in the bottle before setting it down on the railing. "Roxas was a part of the festivities as well, so he should suffer the consequences as well. Plus, it wouldn't be right if Sora just did the entire cleanup by himself, but yet Roxas was there too. Also… I think this would be a great way for them to bond as well."

Leon chuckled at the blonde's remark. "Haha, well if you say so…" He then grabbed another bottle of beer and handed it over to Cloud.

"Oh, uh…" Cloud initially just wanted to have one bottle since he did have to wake up for work the next day early as well. "It's cool. I should only have one since I have work the next d—"

"Pas question, dude!" Leon proceeded to pop open the bottle with his trusty bottle opener on his key chain. "C'est cool. You'll be fine!"

Cloud took a long look of the bottle that was handed out to him. A questionable facial expression softened into an agreeable one as he shook his head and began to drink up, leaving a nice _ahhhhhhhhhhhhh_ at the end due to the refreshness of the beverage. "Merci."

Leon chuckled as he began to drink some more for a bit, staring back at the two teenage boys that were progressively making his living room nice and tidy now. "You know, it seems like Sora and Roxas get along really well."

Cloud simply shook his head at the affirmative. "Yeah… they do… like almost as if they were best friends of sort."

"Wouldn't surprise me since Sora is always talking about him…" Leon stated matter-of-factly.

"Sounds like best friends to me," Cloud added in. "But I'm glad though… Roxy really needs a best friend right now since he is in a new culture…"

"Well I'm glad that our little brothers are becoming best friends…" Leon turned his gaze onto the concrete floor of the patio… just before averting it towards the blonde next to him. "Hopefully we can become best friends as well…"

Cloud momentarily widened his eyes at the comment he had just heard from Leon. He wasn't sure why he was blushing at the remark. It was flattering and all and probably innocent. However, the more the Strife thought about it, the more he blushed.

_Could that mean… anything…?_

"Me too, Leon…" Cloud managed to flash a smile towards the brunette next to him. "Me too…"

The two men tapped their bottles in a cheers of sorts of their new and growing friendship… and to the friendship of their little brothers as well.

* * *

_**I promise that Axel and everyone else will be in the next chapter! Again, this chapter was more of "the author and characters getting back up on their feet after taking a long hiatus". **_

_**Stay tuned for Chapter 16: Premier Jour à Lindsay Place High School**_

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_**Don't forget to review! No reviews, no story **_**=(**

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(1) – I was watching _King of the Hill _while typing this up and I love the joke they made about how Bobby and Connie can't afford a bus fare to the Appalachian Mountains, but either only a t-shirt or a row of seats at the Andy Williams show in Branson =P

* * *

**The Usual Translations**

**Retombées – **fallout

**Connais-tu**** – **you know (conjugated in the _tu _form. _Connaître_ is the verb _to know_)

**Troisième**** – **third

**La règle** – rule

**Avec ou sans**** – **with or without

**Jamais**** – **never (ever)

**Regarde-moi – **look at me

**Compris – **understand (past tense)


	16. Le Premier Jour à LPHS

**Author's Note: **Ugh, was supposed to have this out last week, but I had some mad drama to deal with in regards to "unfinished business", which is still unfinished by the way, so the next chapter's release maybe delayed =/ And yes… still unemployed nearly a month after graduating… grrrreeeaaaattttt…

_But without any more delay, enjoy Chapter 16 =) _

* * *

_Could things just get any more shittier for me? _

Roxas tried to mentally muse as his head was currently faced down in the toilet, vomiting his guts out. The feeling of coloured, warm, acidic liquid making its way up from his stomach, streaming through his esophageus, before making its way to his mouth, and eventually into the porcelain bowl of water for departure into the Montréal sewer systems wasn't exactly on his list of things-to-do for tonight. The porcelain bowl and he had become b.f.f's for practically fifteen minutes now with no end in sight, including periods of him vomiting or just keeping his head in the toilet, fear of throwing up onto the Leonhart's floor. That was totally something he'd want to avoid, having just been nicely mopped up.

"Aggggghhhh…" Roxas woefully moaned as the last of his vomit of alcohol and medicine mixed together came out of his system.

"Lift your head up, Roxy," Sora requested the blonde before he flushed the toilet. The whole time ever since Roxas ran to the toilet, Sora had been providing his unconditional support to the blonde to make sure his head didn't fall into the water, in addition to flushing. "Don't want your face to go back into your bright-as-hell puke, n'est-ce pas?" The brunette goofily chuckled, receiving the finger in reply.

"How's Roxas doing?" Cloud asked as he leaned his body onto the bathroom door's frame, holding a glass of ginger ale he retrieved from the kitchen for Roxas to drink after his puking spell ceases.

"Pretty sure Roxy here will be fine, Cloud," Sora reassured the elder Strife with a thumbs up, receiving a smile and a nod in reply.

"Sora, donne-lui ça," Leon stood outside the doorway as well, giving his little brother a towel for Roxas' face.

"See! What did the mediation bottle and information slip tell you about mixing your medications and alcohol?" Cloud lectured his little brother, rolling his eyes when Roxas flipped him the bird, but began to vomit again right afterwards. "Now your stomach is gonna be a hot mess for awhile…"

_Ugh, no shit Sherlock… _

Roxas rolled his eyes during the pause when his stomach felt like stopping to take a quick breather. After a few more moments of vomiting, Roxas motioned to Sora to flush the toilet, when he finally remerged his face to the outside world.

_Yup… I probably look like a hot mess…_

His thoughts were correct based on the reactions of the three other dudes that stood by. If he could only look at a mirror, he would see that he looked severely flushed with an exhausted look on his eyes as he bore on a drooped and unhappy façade, complete with drool remnants on the corner of his mouth.

_Screw you all! _

He grabbed the towel from Sora in order to wipe his face. Getting help from his brunette buddy on standing upright, the blonde went to the sink to splash cool water on his face in order to rinse off any remnants of vomit and drool. He then proceeded to drink up the glass of ginger ale his older brother had been holding for him. The cool, crisp, yet sweet, crystal clear beverage snaked its way through his digestive system, leaving trails of goodness behind. A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, his body starting to feel better bit by bit.

_Ahhhh, that was nice…_

With the additional help from Cloud, Roxas was taken to the now clean and immaculate living room, where he was settled onto the larger and longer couch. After being helped to a pillow and blanket from Leon, the younger Strife started to feel much better on the road to recovery, at the expense of spending the night at the Leonhart residence.

"Roxy, eat some of this. It'll make you feel better…" Sora handed a bowl over to the blonde. Expecting it to be soup, Roxas held the bowl closer to his face. He was surprised at what laid before his eyes.

"It's ice cream… the one we had for dinner last night…"

"Yup, yup! Sea salt ice cream, remember?" Sora bubbly replied.

"Hmmm…" Roxas knew the ice cream was delicious and all, but had some reservation about whether he should be eating this or not in his current condition.

"Aie confiance en moi, Roxy…" Sora tried his best to assure the blonde. "Trust me, you'll be feeling better soon!"

_If you say so… _

Roxas took a heaping scoop of the bluish ice cream and lifted the spoon towards his mouth. Seeing the salty crystalline shine, he proceeded to put in the salty yet sweet treat in his mouth. As the dairy product made it way down his digestive system, he couldn't help but to put out a smile on his face as more goodness began to spread inside his body.

_I guess Sora's right… damn it!_

"Hehehe, see, I told ya' so…" Sora giggled when Roxas stuck out a tongue at him, watching the blonde continue to devour the ice cream.

"By the way, where can you buy this ice cream?" Cloud inquired, seeing how good and effective the sweet treat can be, even for Roxas.

"Actually, we make it ourselves," Leon answered while tidying up the kitchen one last time. "I found it on this website called _TwilightTownRecipes DOT ca, _and well… Sora and I've been hooked on it ever since."

"Ahhh… I see…"

After Roxas finished the bowl of ice cream, Leon came over to grab the empty bowl to wash it. "I bet whoever sells these in an ice cream shop would be making so much bank right now…" Roxas said off-handily. This remark caused Cloud and Leon to stare at each other for a while, as if an idea had just sparked in their minds together.

"Yeah… that would be cool…" Cloud seemed to be in la-la land, but snapped out of it in a hurry. "Anyways… Leon, you sure it's okay for Roxas to spend the night here? I don't want us to be so much trouble—"

"Pas question!" Leon held up a hand to stop the Strife from continuing, eventually placing it on the Strife's shoulder, chuckling at the reaction he received. "I mean, it's the least I can do since it was totally my fault for letting Roxas and Sora get their hands on alcohol."

A soft smile appeared on the blonde's face. "Don't blame yourself, Leon. It's not your fault that you had work and Roxas knew he should be more responsible." Roxas couldn't help but to scoff at that remark, but was practically unheard as the two older dudes continued with their conversation.

"Well nonetheless… it's more than Sora's and my pleasure! Roxas can crash here whenever he wants!"

"Yup, Roxy's always welcome here!" Sora gleefully added in.

"Whoop-dee-doo…" Roxas uttered blandly, earning a round of laughs in the room. When it ceased, Cloud prepared to make the exit to go back to the Strife's residence.

"Thanks for everything, Leon and Sora!" Cloud managed to smile for the Leonhart's generosity, receiving a nod in the affirmative from the two brunettes. He then turned his attention towards his little brother on the couch. "Don't get into any more trouble, understand?"

_Ugh, I'm not a little kid anymore…_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Roxas rolled his eyes at the mini-lecture he was receiving, but wanted his older brother to vamoose out of the apartment as soon as possible so that the both of them can get some sleep. "I'm too tired to make any trouble anyways…"

"Right… anyways, good night and feel better. See you in the morning…" Cloud rolled his eyes as well. Lightly socking his little brother in the arm, he made his way out while being accompanied by Leon. When the door finally closed, Roxas heaved a sigh a relief as he repositioned himself on the couch in order to make himself more comfortable.

"Is there anything else I can get for you, Roxas?" Leon came to the blonde's side to do a final check of any other requests before he went to sleep.

_A knife, so that I can cut myself and die perhaps?_

"No, everything's okay now, but thank you very much," Roxas managed to put a smile on his face, convincing enough for Leon to buy.

"T'en fais pas, Leon!" Sora spoke as he took a seat at an empty spot on the couch at Roxas' feet. "I'll keep an eye on him for the night. I'll sleep out here."

Roxas scrunched his nose a bit when he heard the brunette's comment. _Grrrreeeaaattt… _

"Alright, I'll leave you guys to go to sleep. Roxas, if you need anything, just let Sora know."

"Sure, no problem," Roxas politely responded.

"Cool. Good night you two!" And with that, Leon turned off the kitchen lights and dimly lit the living room lights before heading off to bed.

With the elder brunette gone, only Sora and Roxas remained in the living room, much to the Strife's dismay. This was especially evident with the… _incident_… that occurred earlier in Sora's room. Luckily, Roxas didn't have to sleep in the same room, on the same bed, with the same person that was ready to fall asleep on the same couch as he was.

"Uh, Sora…" Roxas seemed a little bit nervous at the request he was going to make. "Is it okay if you can move to the other couch? I— er… need to stretch out my legs through the night… you know, with the injuries and such…"

"Oh, my bad dude! My bad!" Sora complied with the request immediately, wanting the blonde to be as comfortable as possible. "Almost fell asleep there too, hehe…"

"Heh… right…" Roxas yawned and was just about to knock out until—

"You sure you don't need anything else, Roxy?" the brunette asked once more before they went to sleep.

_Maybe for you to shut the hell up so that I can sleep?_

"Nah, I'm cool. Thanks though, Sora…" Roxas amiably reassured Sora he was fine, in hopes they could go to sleep.

"Alright then…" Sora yawned and stretched out a bit before grabbing a nearby pillow to make himself comfortable. "Bonsoir, Roxy!"

"G'night…" Roxas replied as he shifted his body, feeling the power of deep sleep coming to take over any second now. However, such a feat wouldn't be accomplished as Sora prevented it.

"Hey Roxy, y'still awake?" No reply came from said boy. "Roxy? Roxy? Rox—"

"Yeah, yeah! What do you want?" Roxas hastily opened his eyes, trying his best not to snap out, reasserting his focus towards Sora. His body really wanted the sleep bad and a babbling brunette wouldn't be helping the cause.

"I— um…" Sora seemed a bit lost on words for a moment. "I just wanted to say that… um… what happened earlier—"

_Oh, really now, Sora?_

"Christ, Sora!" Roxas irritatingly whispered, not wanting to wake up Leon in the other room. "Must we talk about it n—"

"S'il te plaît, Roxy…" Sora held up a hand, surprising the blonde with the gesture that pretty much told him to shut up. "Just hear me out, please…"

Still startled by the gesture, Roxas simply nodded. "Can you make it quick? I'm seriously about to knock out here."

Sora also nodded to the affirmative, noting how exhausted and sick the Strife looked. "Anyways, I just wanted to say that I know that things were a bit… er—… _crazy_… tonight…"

_That would be an understatement, Sora…_ Roxas kept his eyes closed, but was still listening to what the brunette was rambling about.

_Jesus, just get to the point!_

"Roxy… I know it's kinda awkward right now between us… but just know that… this won't stop us from being neighbours and… well… being best friends... and… I was hoping to just maybe… start things over again…. Y'know, like a fresh, clean state… and just wanted to say sorry for everything…"

Opening his eyes, Roxas propped an elbow so that his upper torso would be upright, being able to see Sora in plain view. "Sora... there's no need to worry, dude. I mean… yeah, things did get outta control earlier and well… yeah, shit like this can make things sooooo extremely awkward… but Sora… you're my first friend here in Canada… and it really means a lot to me…"

_Ugh, I hate this mushy, lovey-dovey shit… but if it'll shut Sora up… then might as well go into "unexplored territory"… well, for me at least… and hopefully listening to Cloud's lectures all these years pay off now…_

"I mean, you're the one who spent the night with me at the hospital my first night here in Montreal, despite my mind protesting such… And you've been nothing but supportive for me to fit in and have some fun and taking care of me, being the new kid in town..." Roxas took a moment to pause, breathing in and out before continuing. "And to be honest, it should be me apologising to you for being the asshole that I am… and well, if we start over again… that would be awkward too… because I feel like the bond between us can never be wiped clean and start all over again… so I think it's best to just put those events behind us… and just let our friendship continue down the road… because you never look back when travelling down the freeway… in most cases…" Roxas rolled his eyes at the analogy he just used.

_Shit dude, that took a lot outta me! Please let it work…_

Sora's facial expression looked as if he was going to cry or beam off the biggest smile known to man. "Y— you… you really mean it, Roxy?"

"Y— yes… yes I do, Sora…"

A moment of silence followed right after, neither dude not knowing how to react to this conversation. However, all would be broken when Sora almost jumped for joy, giggling with happiness and glee.

"Roxy, you are the be—"

"W— wait, Sora!" Roxas held up a hand to stop Sora from jumping onto him. "Remember… my ribs?"

"Oh, yeah… hehehe…" Sora held a hand behind his head, chuckling in a slight of embarrassment. "Sorry Roxy. Forgot about that…"

"And now you know…" The blonde rolled his eyes to the side, letting his body lay down flat on the couch once again. "Okay, seriously, I'm going to sleep now."

"Alright…" Sora went to go turn off the lights completely before heading back onto the loveseat to sleep as well. "Bonsoir, Roxy… and thanks… we'll go to Downtown Montreal tomorrow so that you can see all the sights around here."

"Sounds good," Roxas sleepily yawned, deep sleep now surely eminent. "G'night, Sora… and you're welcome."

_Hopefully we do forget about what happened earlier… and that his feelings have changed for me… since I really don't know how I feel about him at all on that level…_

The power of dreams soon took over the blonde.

_But what about… with… Axel?_

* * *

For the rest of the summer, Roxas and Sora continued to build on their friendship, including taking the whole day to view all of the famous sights and scenery the Island of Montréal had to offer. Within this time period, Roxas got to know Sora's best friends, Riku and Kairi, a lot better. He even began to have some perception that maybe perhaps Riku had feelings for Sora, though honestly it wasn't on top of his list of priorities at the moment. In addition with gaining more familiarity with the people and culture of Montréal, Roxas was able to pick up some French along the way, trying his best to utilise it whenever possible and is getting a grasp on some of the basic signage around the city, like _dépanneur_, _arrêt_, and _Les Cafés Second Cup_.

However, one notable element during the rest of Roxas' summer was the lack of presence of Axel Le Beaufeu. The last time the blonde ever saw the arrogant, cocky, tall, and lanky redhead was at Sora's apartment during the kickback. He wasn't sure on why it had bothered him so much or why Sora had never mentioned Axel's name around him, considering the Le Beaufeu was one of his closest friends.

But nonetheless, the summer came to a close and the first day of school was about to begin.

* * *

"Alright, we're here…" Cloud called out to Sora and Roxas in the Nissan Murano as he pulled in front of their destination, Lindsay Place High School, in Pointe-Claire on Avenue Broadview. Getting out of the car, Roxas, now strapped with a backpack on his back, took in the two-story structure that lay before him.

_School… ugh, so not the business… someone just kill me now… _

"Thank you, Cloud!" Sora waved off as Cloud was beginning to leave. "My brother will pick us up after school!"

"Okay, no problem! Roxas… be good!" And with that, Cloud drove off to work in Downtown Montréal.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Roxas softly said as Sora and he began to walk towards the school, crowded with students and faculty alike wherever you look. Luckily, the school wasn't a total stranger to him as Cloud and he had been on campus a few days beforehand to register him and enroll him in the proper classes, in addition to getting a tour of the school grounds and to where his assigned locker was. The Strifes were surprised with the fact that high school in Quebec ended in the eleventh grade, where Roxas is currently standing in terms of progress, and that he was in _Secondary V_, not eleventh grade as all the other provinces and the United States uses. So theoretically, Roxas just needed this year before he was able to graduate and obtain his high school diploma, or _Diplôme d'études secondaires__ (DES)_.

Roxas was also introduced to some of the important staff members of the school as well. He had met the Principle of the school, Dr. Quistis Trepe, whom he thought was pretty hot for a typical school principal. The blonde also had an advisory session with his guidance counsellor, Vincent Valentine, who felt really weird and awkward to be in the same room with, especially with the perception of coldness he was getting from the counsellor.

_Well… here goes nothing… a new life in a brand new school… at least in English… most of the time…_

"Hey Roxy, lemme see your schedule!" Sora requested from the blonde while they went through the halls. "I can walk you to class and maybe show you where your other classes are."

"Uh… sure…" Digging through his backpack, Roxas pulled out his class schedule and went over the classes he'd be having for the rest of the year once again before handing the white piece of paper to Sora.

* * *

_**Homeroom) – **__LOCKHART, Tifa_

_**1) French Immersion – **__LOCKHART, Tifa_

_**2) French Immersion/Canadian Gov't – **__LOCKHART, Tifa_

_**3) Chemistry – **__WALLACE, Barret _

_**4) Probability and Statistics – **__MALADROIT, Elena _

_**5) LUNCH **_

_**6) English – **__TILMITT, Selphie _

_**7) Phys. Ed. (Tennis) – **__KISARAGI, Yuffie _

_

* * *

_

"Cool, you've got all the awesome teachers!" Sora smiled when he read the list. "I heard Miss Lockhart is uber nice and sweet… though I hear Mr. Wallace can be a bit crazy with the chemicals."

_Grrreeeaaattt… not exactly fond with chemistry either…_

"And I have Stats and English with you too, so we can be together throughout lunch too!"

_Again… grrreeeaaattt… _

"That's cool, So—"

_**SMACK**_

"Oomph!" Roxas was hastily interrupted and startled when he felt a hand slap his backpack pretty hard, enough to push him forward slightly due to his light bodyweight and frame.

"Well bonjour, Roxy-the-emo-dude!"

_Oh fuck, you've got to be kidding me! It's him!_

Scrunching his face and tensing his shoulders, Roxas began to slowly turn around to confirm who had just pierced his eardrums with the annoying comment.

_Yup, it's him… ugh!_

"Bonjour… Axel…" Roxas managed to slowly and softly croak out. Despite not seeing the redhead in awhile, the way he reacted felt like he'd just seen the lanky teen yesterday, sans the eyebrow piercing on the left eyebrow, which looked to be recent.

"Well, I see that you've got my name memorized pretty well…" Axel gave off a fiendish smirk, enough to once again push Roxas' buttons.

_Ugh, the nerve of this dude! _

"Grrr…" Roxas softly growled, scowling towards the redhead.

_I was actually gonna try to be nice to him… and this is what he does to me? What the fuck was I thinking?_

"Ohhh…" Axel began to widen his smirk. "Looks like we got a feisty Roxy aujourd'hui." He only laughed when the blonde had nothing to say to him back.

"Axel! Comment ça va my friend?" Sora excitedly began to hug the redhead, slapping hands and giving him another hug as if he hadn't seen Axel in years. "Dude, it's been sooooo long the last time I've seen you bro!"

"Alors, je me suis très occupé, dude!" Axel heartily replied. "You know, with the organi— er… I mean, with friends and family and stuff."

_"Organi-what"?_

Roxas raised an eyebrow in suspicion to the redhead's abrupt stop in speech.

"Well, you missed out on all the fun the last few weeks," Sora laid an arm over Roxas' neck, much to the annoyance of the blonde.

"Heh, with Roxy-the-emo-dude here? I'm sure I've missed lots and lots of fun," Axel began to pet Roxas' blonde spikes, being unperturbed when his arm was slapped away from an increasingly hostile blonde.

_Dude… are you making fun of me?_

"Say Roxy, est-ce que je peux voir ton class schedule?"

Roxas quickly glanced at Axel after making the request. He pointed to Sora, as he was currently looking at the Strife's schedule. Receiving it from the brunette, Axel carefully scrutinised the printed piece of paper, letting out a whistle towards the end as he handed it back to its owner.

"Dude, except for French immersion, 'cause y'know I already speak the French language… in a sexy fashion, I might add…" Axel spoke the latter part of the sentence in a husky tone, earning a laugh form Sora but a glare from Roxas, who actually put some thought on what the redhead said.

_Sexy, huh? Well… his French does sound pretty h— What the fuck? Why the hell am I thinking that way! Fuck Roxas, get your mind out of the gutter before you get a nosebleed…_

"Anyways, I pretty much have every class with you, Roxy. Isn't that soooo awesome?" Axel proceeded to put an arm around Roxas, in addition to the arm already on his neck from Sora.

_I have four classes straight with that redheaded jackass? _Roxas looked up towards the heavens. _What did I do to deserve this?_

"Um… that's uh… grrreeeaaattt, dude…" Roxas politely, but flatly replied.

"I know, huh?" In a surprising move, Axel moved his face a lot closer to Roxas'… a little… too close to comfort, especially for Roxas, who can feel the Le Beaufeu's breath ghost over his cheek. "We're gonna have lots of… _fun_… together… right, Roxy?"

_What… the… hell? Shit, I think I'm getting a nosebleed..._

The blonde began to tense up his shoulders, wondering whether or not Axel was serious about them having… _fun_… together. Was it supposed to be an innuendo of sorts? Or was it a joke, knowing Axel and his… odd… sense of humour.

"Riiiggghhhttt…"

_**RIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGG**_

As soon as the bell ceased, everyone in the hallway began to rush towards their first period class, slamming their lockers and making a run for it in order not to be tardy, though it being the first day, a relaxed enforcement would be in effect.

"Allez, Roxy, I'll walk with you to your homeroom," Sora motioned the blonde to follow him. "It's on the way to my Cultural and Ethics Class."

"Alright, I gotta head over to my Physics class," Axel began to walk the opposite direction of the two other dudes. "À plus… especially you, Roxy… hehehe…"

_Umm… all right… that was kinda weird…_

Deciding to ignore the redhead, Roxas continued to walk down the hall with Sora amid the mass of students going in all sorts of direction. A few more moments later, Roxas and Sora had arrived in front of Miss Lockhart's French immersion class. Taking a peak inside, he noted that several students had already taken their seats. He also noted a young and petite, brown-eyed woman who looked to be in her early to mid-twenties, dressed in a white, short-sleeved blouse, a denim skirt, and black platform shoes. In addition, she had long and shiny waist-length brunette hair, teardrop-shaped earrings, and very bright pink lipstick on her lips. Overall, she could've been mistaken for a Parisian model instead of schoolteacher.

_Whhhoooaaa dude…_

"Heh, see, I told 'ya so, Roxy…" Sora patted the blonde on the back, remembering what he said about Miss Lockhart and validating his facts for Roxas to see. "Anyways, I gotta get to class before I'm late. À plus, Roxy! See you in Stats."

"À plus…" Roxas replied before proceeding to enter the classroom, taking a seat at a free desk in the middle of the room. Knowing from the past, he realised that sitting in the back would be a prime target to get called on and sitting in the front would be too obvious. Since he really doesn't want to be constantly called on all the time and just lay low in the class, he believed sitting in the middle would solve the problem. Though a thought did creep into his mind.

_This is an immersion class… is there anyway I'll be able to hide without it being so obvious in my progress?_

Before he could go any further, his musings came to an abrupt stop when his ears caught the sound of the whiteboard being pounded, causing him and all the other nineteen students to cease all activity. They could've sworn they heard the walls shake just a little bit.

"Ahem…" the brunette in front of the room cleared her voice, getting ready to start off the day as the final bell rang for the class to begin. "Bonjour, tout le monde!"

"Bonjour…" all the students replied hesitantly, French obviously not being their native tongue. It was an immersion class after all.

With a smile on her face, the teacher continued. "Bienvenue à la classe d'immersion française et le gouvernement canadien. Je m'appelle Madame Lockhart et je suis votre professeur pour cette classe pour la première deux périodes. Je suis très heureux que nous aurons une bonne année ici. D'accord?"

Complete silence followed right after. The looks of one being clueless were so evident that the class might as well be full of airheads from _Clueless_.

"Haha, I knew y'all wouldn't understand me," Miss Lockhart spoke with a typical Anglo-Canadian accent. "Anyways, welcome to your first day of school and welcome to French Immersion and Canadian Government. My name is Miss Tifa Lockhart, but please address me as _Madame Lockhart_ for the sake of this class, and I'll be your teacher for the first two periods of each day. As the name implies, this class will be entirely taught in French 99-percent of the time in order to improve your communication in Quebec and other Francophone societies. Everyone good so far?"

The class simply nodded in the affirmative.

"It's important that by the end of the year that you'll have a better grasp of the French language in everyday situations, especially since French is the official language of this province, so if you're looking for a government or other public jobs, please take this class seriously. Il est très important que vous apprendriez les compétences ici."

So far, Roxas did not like what he was hearing. He knew this class is going to take a lot out of him, but knew if he didn't learn, he might as well be deaf living in Quebec.

_This is gonna be fuckin' tee-rif-ick…_

"So, to get us started…" Miss Lockhart began to write a few things on the board. "We will be going around the room and introducing ourselves with the following…" She began to point at each sentence she wrote with the magic marker. "Je m'appelle _your name here_. J'ai _number of your age here _ans," Miss Lockhart then pointed to a common range of numbers that she wrote on the side to aid her students for their age, including pronunciation. "J'habite à _name of your city here_, and if you're new here: Je suis nouveau/nouvelle ici et je suis de _name of your old city_. C'est clair tout le monde? Is it clear to everyone?"

Once again, everyone nodded a yes.

"D'accord… alors, ma première victime…" Madame Lockhart began to scan the room with her eyes. This made Roxas slouch in his seat just a little bit, not wanting to be first.

_Please don't pick me, please don't pick me, please don't pi—_

"Alors, vous?"

_Damn…_

Roxas flinched a bit when Madame Lockhart directed her pointer stick at the blonde. Standing up next to his desk, he began to recite the following information asked in a slow and cautious manner.

_Luckily, Sora and co. already taught me some of the basics… Here goes nothing…_

"Je m'appelle Roxas Strife. J'ai qu—seize ans. J— j'habite à Dorval. Je suis nouveau ici et je suis de Los Angeles."

_Thank God that's over!_

Madame Lockhart smiled as she nodded in approval. "Très bien, Roxas. Bravo!" she applauded as well the other students.

"Uh… merci…" Roxas waved a quick hand before promptly returning to his seat, glad the spotlight was off of him.

For about two hours, Roxas and class got to the basics of the French language. This included introductions, the alphabet, numbers 0 through 20, and very basic phrases, such as _where is the bathroom_? In addition, Roxas was able to get an introduction on how the Canadian government system worked, though it was also taught in French, but was able to make out that the country had a federal parliament in addition to the parliaments for each province.

By 11am, snack time had arrived. As Roxas walked outside of the class alive, noting he had to sit through nearly two hours in the same room and seat, he was relieved for the much needed ten-minute break.

_Oh thank God it's snack ti—_

"Oomph!" Roxas nearly crashed into the wall when a brunette bundle of energy nearly glomped him.

"Roxy! Roxy! Roxy!"

"Hey Sora…" the blonde flatly said, managing to get the brunette off of him before they made their way to the cafeteria to get a quick snack.

"How was _immersion française_?"

"Not ba— er…, I mean, _pas mal_…" Roxas wanted to mentally pat himself on the back for finding a use for French at the moment.

"My, my, Roxy… I'm impressed," Sora patted the blonde on the back.

"Haha, I know…"

"Hehe… oh Roxy…"

Roxas and Sora were able to obtain their snacks and meet up with Riku and Kairi. For the remainder of time, the four ate their snacks and talked about any gossip they've heard from their first two classes. As the bell rang, all four were about to part ways until—

"Roxy-the-emo-dude!"

_Ugh, really now? In front of everyone?_

Roxas tensed his shoulders as he heard Axel's voice hollering for him in the distance.

Taking in a deep breath, Roxas decided to give the redhead another chance. "It's… nice… to see you too, Axel…"

"Of course it's nice to see me. It always is, hehehe…" Axel simply laughed at the glare he received. "Anyways, remember we have the same classes for the rest of the day?"

_Shit, I forgot about that…_

"Oh yeah, that's right…" Sora added in. "Well… you two have fun, hehehe. See you in Stats you two!" And with that, the brunette left for his turn in Physics class, effectively leaving the two alone.

_Great… gotta spend the rest of the day with him…_

"Allez, Roxy, we gotta get to Chem!" Axel began to tug onto Roxas' arm for him to pick up the pace. "Can't wait 'til we start working with putting stuff on fire!"

_Just… kill me now…_

* * *

**_Please, please, please, please, please,..., please + 1 REVIEW! I need all the feedback I can get so that futures chapters will be better =) _**

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**The Usual Translations**

**T'en fais pas**** – **Don't worry

**Maladroit – **clumsy (I used it for Elena's surname as she was the newest Turk, being clumsy and inexperienced, thus a wordplay on her characteristics)

**Je me suis très occupé**** – **I've been really busy (passé composé of the verb _s'occuper_)

**Aujourd'hui**** – **today

**Les compétences**** – **skills


	17. Quelle Journée!

_For the best viewing (well… for me, at least =P), use the settings on the upper right of this window to adjust to a dark background with the biggest font size and adjust the spacings between the lines as far apart as possible. _

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**Author's Note: **Ugh, this update wasn't supposed to take so long to get to you all! =/ But as you all know… life does happen -_- (been a part of two wedding parties i.e. groomsman and then sustaining a fracture in my ankle while playing tennis, thus I'm stuck on crutches for a while, and of course… still not having a job after graduating… so sad =/). But at last… I've managed to type up the latest chapter for you all! And I'm so happy to see that many more new readers are subscribing to this story =) I haven't been saying this enough… but THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE AWESOME SUPPORT! IT REALLY MEANS MUCH TO ME!

**Additional Note: **This chapter will contain a brief flashback scene where everything will be _italicised_, and thoughts and other things normally italicised will be regular faced i.e. everything's just reversed in that particular section… Just to let you all know =)

_Don't forget to review! And enjoy Chapter 17 =) _

—

* * *

"Mr. Wallace? Mr. Wallace?"

"Yes? It's… Axel Le Beaufeu, isn't it?"

"Oui chef, you've surely got that memorized well…"

Roxas couldn't help but to scrunch his eyebrows at the smirk Axel, who just happened to conveniently choose the seat right next to him for the rest of the academic year, was beaming off, especially towards him. He would've never imagined that the redhead could be this annoying in class, let alone during their normal hangouts with friends. It's only been about twenty minutes within their Chemistry class and already Roxas was able to preview what was coming to him for many months to come.

_Damn him… does he always have to ask a question for every minute of this Godforsaken class? _

"Axel… your question, please…" The Chemistry teacher, Mr. Barret Wallace, whom was of Afro-Caribbean Canadian descent, flatly asked of his student to get to the point of his question. The tone of his voice was very contrastable to his very large and muscular body, with some students thinking he was a bodybuilder rather than a Chemistry teacher… an _intimidating _body builder, rather.

"Are we going to be playing with and burning stuff on _fire_?" A small smile glinted on the dude with the strange markings below his eyes.

"For the thousandth time already, _yes_…" A hint of annoyance could be sensed in the teacher's voice. "When we start laboratory assignments on Monday next week, we will be working with Bunsen burners that will help us gain the understanding of how heat can cause chemical reactions and such. We will use tools such as test tubes, crucibles, and flasks."

"I see, Mr. Wallace…" Axel nodded in the affirmative, but still didn't seem satisfied with the answer given to him. "Will we be working with chemicals that can explode and such?"

_Jesus Christ, really? _

Roxas rolled his eyes as he averted his attention back at the man in front of the classroom.

"Yes, Axel, we will be, though I can assure you that it won't be anything major and will be on a small scale, thus I'm very certain and confident everyone will be safe doing the lab experiments throughout the year…" Mr. Wallace gazed over at the redhead near the back-centre of the classroom, noting the emo-looking blonde on his right and a steel blue headed bookworm on the left. "Now… without any further questions, I will now explain the procedures on how to do the daily homework assignments, and _yes_, you will have homework tonight so please spare me the groans."

Despite the teacher's plea on the latter part of his sentence, the majority of students groaned as they were distributed thick, hard covered textbooks and given a check-out card to fill out. Roxas, wanting to get over the process as soon as possible, hastily filled out the card and made sure the book number ID he scribbled down matched the stamped one on the inside cover. Sighing as he finished, his eyes gazed over at the redhead on his left, who'd also just finished filling out the card.

"Pyromaniac much?" Roxas flatly uttered, giving off a smirk on his lips.

"Who? _Moi_?" Axel innocently pointed to himself, signifying that he's done nothing wrong. "Pas possible! C'est drôle, Roxy."

_Dude, this guy here…_

Roxas rolled his eyes at the innocence-card Axel was playing out right now. "_Mais que si_, Axel. All the questions you've been asking so far has the subject of _fire_ in it..."

The Le Beaufeu simply shrugged in indifference. "Et alors?"

"Care to explain?"

"Explain about what?"

The blonde huffed in annoyance. "Never mind."

"_Never mind… _quoi?" A smirk began to grow on Axel's lips as he once again successfully got the blonde to work up into a frenzy.

"Just… _shut up…_" Roxas felt his eyebrow twitch as he tried to block out the redhead next to him. Such attempts would fail as he could feel Axel lean his body over his own, nearly to the point of imminent contact.

_Dude… he's getting a little too close for comfort here…_

"Shut up… _what_?" Axel harshly whispered, the smirk continuing to expand as his breath ghosted over the blonde's ear.

Roxas twitched as his body involuntarily shivered at his personal space being invaded. He couldn't take it anymore as his buttons were pushed a bit too far.

"Shut… the…FUCK… UP!" Roxas growled at Axel in an animalistic fashion as he stood up from his seat to tower over the redhead. However, it wasn't enough to scare Axel as the Le Beaufeu simply smirked even more at the anger the Strife was giving to him. In addition, Roxas failed to notice that his voice was loud enough for the entire class to stop in their tracks and gawk at the now red-faced blonde.

_Oh shit… it was that loud, huh?_

Roxas simply stared at the class in utter embarrassment as the class ogled back at him as well, many with their mouths formed in an _o_ shape.

_This… is… uber… EMBARASSING…_

The blonde resumed his seat, which painfully took forever and a day due to the nature of the ambiance he had caused… thanks to a certain redhead next to him.

"Mr. Strife…" Mr. Wallace had the same facial expression of shock and confusion as the rest of the students in the class. "Is there a problem back there?"

_Yes… that IDIOT of a redhead next to me!_

"No sir, not at all…" Roxas softly replied, picking up a snickering Axel in the corner of his eyes, trying not to twitch in resentment. "I'm sorry about the outburst, Mr. Wallace."

Said teacher raised an eyebrow in confusion, but not wanting to deal with it any further, he simply nodded in a gesture of acceptance. "It's okay, Roxas. It's all our first day back to school."

Roxas nodded as well with the remark given to him, thankful that Mr. Wallace had not chewed him out in front of the class as Sora told him that he was infamous for such.

_Ugh… can I just DIE now? PLEASE?_

The Strife slumped further into his cheap plastic seat, trying to make himself feel invisible, as he knew that his other classmates were either still staring at him or talking shit behind his back. What a way to make a first impression at his new school. However, he already knew that he didn't exactly come to this school to make a bunch of new friends, though it would've been Cloud's wish to do so.

_They can all go fuck themselves, honestly…_

"Hey, Roxy…" Roxas flinched as he felt his side being poked by a red pen by Axel. "Désolé about that… Really, I'm sorry about that…" Roxas gazed over to his left, ready to unleash his ugly side...

But his angry façade began to soften as Axel began to don on him the most adorable and sincere beaten-puppy eyes look he'd ever seen, complete with quivering lips, that would win over even the most insensitive hearts out there.

_I cannot BELIEVE he's playing that card with me… _

Roxas mentally scoffed, rolling his eyes away from Axel. When he returned his gaze at the redhead, the same beaten-puppy look was still being emitted towards him.

_Though I'd have to admit… it is pretty cute… _

And he widened his eyes at his musing.

_And I can't believe I just said that Axel was… cute… _

"You can stop the making those idiotic faces now…" Roxas averted his eyes back towards the whiteboard, not wanting to be subjected even more of the redhead's sappy look. "What are you? Like… twelve?"

"But Roooxxxyyy…" Axel began to take on a more whiny and childish tone, retaining the cuteness of his expression. "You know that I'm cuuuttteee… je suis _mignon_."

"Whatever…" Roxas resumed to facing the whiteboard, tuning out the redhead next to him. As more time flew by in his third-period class, he was still mentally bothered by what he thought of Axel earlier when he saw the dude next to him make such faces.

_Why did I say that he was 'cute'? I mean, it's the honest truth… and by that I mean if I were purely looking from an impersonal standpoint… or whatever that means… but still… why did I say that?_

The spiky blonde buried his face in his hands in frustration.

_UGH! Goddamn, this is confusing the fuck outta me… _

Before he could wallow in any more confusion, the bell rang, much to Roxas' relief. Though he still had one more class, which was Stats, to deal with before he could finally get a break from the first half of his long and daunting day at school.

On the way to class however, he had to deal with a certain redhead's arm wrapped around the back of his neck while talking to his sitar-loving friend with the mullet or Mohawk or whatever the hell hairstyle he had. Luckily, he was able to break free of it when they got to Stats, gladly sitting next to a seat that Sora had saved for him near Kairi. However, he couldn't escape Axel as the Le Beaufeu decided to take a seat right next to him like in Chemistry, with Demyx as his other neighbour.

"Salut Roxas, ça va?" Kairi genuinely greeted the blonde with a smile.

"Pas mal. Et toi?" Roxas managed to beam out a small smile, despite what happened earlier.

"La même chose aussi, haha," Kairi laughed, getting the blonde to slightly chuckle as well.

"Yeah, Roxy. How are classes so far?" Sora inquired as he pulled out a notebook to take notes.

Before replying to the question, Roxas took a gander at Axel next to him, who was happily chatting away with his sitar-loving buddy. "It's been A-OKAY, Sora!" the blonde replied with a bit of sarcasm in his voice, complete with a sarcastic thumbs up and smile.

"Whoa…" Sora raised his hands in a defensive fashion. "On est Monsieur Sarcastique aujourd'hui, non?"

"Pfffttt, whatever…" Roxas rolled his eyes as he took out the necessary materials to take notes. "Riku's not taking this class? Uh, Sora?" The Strife looked over to see why the Leonhart wasn't responding to his question. He noted that the brunette's face began to blush at the mentioning of Riku's name. "Sora?"

"No, h— he's taking H— honours Ca— calculus instead of St— stats…" was the only reply Sora shakily gave out to his friend.

_Okaaaaayyyyy… better not talk about Riku anymore… or else, the fucking awkwardness will just continue on…_

As soon as Roxas finished his musings, a young woman with short blonde hair, Miss Elena Maladroit, walked into the classroom… and almost tripped over a book that was left on the floor.

_Niiiiccceee… _Roxas rolled his eyes. _She must be a klutz…_

For the next fifty-minutes, the class was subjected to the wonderful world of Statistics, learning on the first day what was a mean, median, and mode were, the difference between a sample and population, and bar charts. Fortunately, this stuff actually interested Roxas and was able to get through fifty minutes of class distraction free as Sora managed to pay attention, while Axel mainly talked to Demyx when Miss Maladroit wasn't looking… or too busy being clumsy with the objects around the classroom.

At about 1:05pm, the bell finally rang for lunch. Roxas reached for his backpack in order to put away his binder. Getting up, he slung the bag over his back before checking the desk to make sure he didn't leave anything behind.

"The hell…"

Roxas picked up a crumpled piece of paper on his desk. Before making his way to the trashcan, he decided to unravel it, wondering what was on the paper.

_**Rendez-vous à Windsor Park ce samedi à 22h30. Venez seul. **_

"What the fuck is this?" Roxas said to himself as he read the paper over and over, noting how each letter glue on it had come from a different magazine, only understanding about three words on it. He was about to ask Axel on who put this on his desk…

But realised that he and Demyx were gone, presumably to lunch.

_What the hell is going on he—_

"Roxy?"

"Aagh!" the blonde flinched when he felt a hand tap his shoulder, causing him to quickly put the note away in the pocket of his zip-up. To his relief, it was just Sora. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Allez, Roxy! Let's go get some lunch." Sora gestured his friend to come along with him and Kairi. 

"Okay, let's go…" Roxas began to walk with Sora and Kairi as they made their way to the cafeteria, still bothered by the note in his pocket… and the fact that Axel and Demyx were gone by the time he looked at his desk.

_Seriously… what the FUCK is going on here?_

—

* * *

"Let's see… Des Lauriers savings account… $3,200," a suit and tie dressed Cloud softly recited as he rummaged through a pile of papers on his desk, typing in the necessary information on the iMac in front of him. It had only been a few weeks ever since he started his new job as an account data entry worker at the Bank of Montreal in Downtown Montréal on Boulevard René Lévesque, his small cubicle located among others on the 10th floor in your typical office setting.

After typing in the last bit of information from the piece of paper he held, he decided that a five-minute break was warranted, noting it was already 14h00 (2:00pm) on the clock on the upper-right corner of the computer's desktop.

_Just three more hours left before going home… and facing the horrendous traffic on __Autoroutes__ 720 and 20… teeee-riiiiifffffff-iiiiiiccccc…_

Setting the paper aside, he reclined his swivel chair backwards in order to let his posture relax. Gazing up towards the fluorescent-lit ceilings, he stretched out his arms and legs, hearing a few cracks from his joints as he let out an exaggerating and tiresome yawn. Right after, he lightly scratched his head as his eyes now gazed on the various mementos and photographs he had strewn on his desk and grey-coated cubicle walls.

_Heh…_

Cloud's sky blue eyes gazed upon a photo of Roxas and him when they went to the L.A. County Fair some years back when they lived in Southern California. Aside from the hilarity of the photo with the two Strife brothers genuinely smiling while holding their cotton candy and having dabs of it on their faces, it proved to be total nostalgia as it was taken during the _good ol' days_, when they lived an affluent life with their parents still around.

"I'm doing this for the both of us…" a petite smile crept at the corner of Cloud's mouth. "Especially for you, Rox…" he placed a finger on his younger brother's cotton-candied-face before setting the photo frame back near the telephone. Before being able to go back to work, a couple of other photos caught his attention as well. This included one with Leon and himself playing billiards at Clyde's about a week ago when Leon had asked him out once again (as friends… of course). The other photo contained Leon, Sora, Roxas, and himself at the new dinner table Cloud was able to buy and to finally be able to host dinner at his own residence. A particular food item that caught his eye, however, was the sea salt ice cream Leon freshly made that night.

"Heh… could we really do this?"

What Cloud was referring to was the time he inquired about where he could buy the sea salt ice cream, but was told by Leon that they weren't sold in stores and that he made them himself from scratch in accordance to a recipe he found on some Canadian website.

_'Twilight Town Recipes DOT ca' wasn't it?_

In addition, he recalled the bold proposal that Leon made to him the last time they went to Clyde's.

–

* * *

_ "What do you say that we…" Leon set up his line of sight with the pool cue he was holding to the white cue ball, hoping to sink in the final eight-ball to finish the game. Taking a few moments to forecast how much force he should strike the cue ball to the eight-ball, he fidgeted his posture and cue stick here and there until he finally struck the ball, smiling as the white ball smacked the black ball, sinking into the corner pocket for the win. _

_ "Aw, damn it," Cloud snapped his finger in defeat, knowing he would've had the chance to win if he hadn't committed a scratch earlier. "Guess that's another round of beer for you, Leon." _

_ "__Mais bien sûr__, Cloud," Leon chuckled as he watched Cloud make his way to the bar, bringing back two pint glasses of Newcastle. "__Merci beaucoup__." _

_ "__Pas de problème__," Cloud lifted his glass as the two tapped it before taking a nice swig. Letting out a small belch, Cloud sighed in satisfaction before taking a small breather before taking another swig. "Anyways… what were you gonna say earlier?" _

_ "Oh, yeah…" Leon took another heaping full of the dark ale before continuing. "What do you say we… open up a sea salt ice cream parlour?" _

Wait… what?

_Cloud almost spat out his beer, surprised at the bold request Leon had suddenly just made. Was the Leonhart for real? "Wait… did you just say—"_

_ "Yup…" the brunette stopped the blonde in his tracks as the smile on his face became wider. "A sea salt ice cream parlour… __une glacerie__. And we can be business partners as well!"_

You know… I've never seen Leon ever this excited before… kinda sexy…

_ Cloud continued to stare in a dumbfounded fashion. "W— why the sudden urge to go on a business venture?" _

_ The Leonhart laughably scoffed at the Strife, as if a ridiculous question had been posed upon him. "Well… remember the time your little brother stayed over and Sora gave him the sea salt ice cream and how quickly he recovered from his stomach problems?" _

_ "Uh huh…" the blonde simply nodded. _

_ "And remember when you asked me where you could by the sea salt ice cream and I told you that they don't sell it in stores and I have to make it from scratch?" _

_ "Yeah…"_

_ "Well…" Leon decided to put his cue stick on the wall holder so that he had a free hand. "That gave me an idea. If we open up our own shop specialising in sea salt ice cream, we could spread the word of this treat and become totally rich! So what do you say… partner?" _

_ Cloud fought hard to keep from blushing with the way Leon said _partner_. However, his reluctant side began to surface, as he knew such a venture would be risky i.e. a lot of one's own money to invest and profit is not guaranteed. Such could effectively ruin the new life he was trying to build for Roxas and him. "I… er—… I don't know about this, Leon. It sound like a great idea, but it's awfully risky and I don't have that kind of money to invest in such a ventu—" _

_ Cloud quickly hushed when Leon's hands made their way onto the blonde's shoulders. He also noted the serious expression on the Leonhart's face. "Cloud… I know what you're thinking… and I'm not saying you have to decide right at this very moment…" Looking down onto the wooden floor and releasing a long sigh, Leon returned his gaze onto Cloud's oceanic eyes. "But I'm not in this for the money…"_

Wait, what?

_Cloud became bewildered on what he'd just heard. "Well… if it's not for the money... then what?" He flinched a bit when he felt Leon's grip on his shoulders tighten a bit too much for comfort. _

_ "Well…" Leon paused for a moment, as if he were trying to formulate an answer to Cloud's question. "Cloud… I haven't had a friend quite like you ever since I've moved to Canada quite some time ago. Sure, I have my co-workers at the law firm… but they're not the same. And sure, I have my little brother… but… well…" the Leonhart began to fidget, clearing his throat in response to the nervousness that was in the air. "I was hoping that this business venture would… __tu sais__… make us even better friends." _

_ … _Is that all?

_Although he tried really hard, Cloud's pale skin began to redden as his emotions began to surface. "You know what, Leon? I'm glad that we're friends and that you're my neighbour and the hospitality that you and Sora have given to me and Roxas… I mean, just that alone has shown how much our friendship has really grown." _

_ "R— really?" Leon's smile began to widen. _

_ "__Bien sûr__, dude!" Unconsciously, Cloud's hands began to slowly find their way onto Leon's hips. "And you know what? Whenever, the time comes… you can count me in for the ice cream parlour idea." _

_ "Cool!" Leon excitedly replied, but kept a cool demeanour. _

_ "Yeah… cool…" Cloud trailed off, unaware that he was lethargically moving his head towards Leon's face, his eyes glancing in between the brunette's eyes and lips. He also noted that Leon was doing the same thing. _

Holy shit… _Cloud's mind was in a panic, though he still managed to maintain a cool exterior. _I'm I actually gonna kiss him this time?

_As their faces were only mere centimetres apart and feeling Leon's breath ghost over his face, Cloud began to slowly close his eyes, anticipating on what was coming up for his lips. _

_ That is until—_

**BEEP**

** BEEP**

_"Oh shit, a text," Leon backed away, taking his hands off of Cloud's shoulder as he reached in his pockets and pulled out his cell phone. "__Pardon-moi__ Cloud, but I gotta take care of an important call outside."_

I can't believe that we almost kissed… should I be glad it didn't happen… or be sad?

_"Oh no, __c'est cool__…" Cloud managed to return to his normal expression. "Go right on ahead." _

_ "Sweet," Leon patted Cloud on the shoulder. "Be right back…" _

_ Cloud watched as Leon made his way out the front door of the tavern. He went to a nearby empty booth with their pints of Newcastle. Taking a seat, he sighed in a mixture of disappointment and relief as he began to gulp down all of the beer in the glass, watching the summer moonlight shine upon the West Island. _

–

* * *

"And that's how the dream of opening up a sea salt ice cream parlour was born…" Cloud smiled as he put the photo down on his desk. He wasn't sure when that day will come, but with some adjustments in his budget, he planned on putting a small portion of his salary in a joint-savings account that he and Leon had opened up dedicated to their ambitions.

Intertwining his fingers, the blonde stretched his arms in front of him, ready to resume his work until—

"AGGHH!" Cloud slightly jumped in his seat in utter surprise. He was startled by the fact that a plastic dart had lodged itself onto the iMac's display. Turning around, the Strife was able to see who the culprit was: a tall, skinny, fair-skinned, blue-eyed man about his age, complete with short and black spiky hair with long bangs framing the sides of his face. "Really now, _Zack_?"

"Haha, quoi?" Cloud's co-worker, Zack Fair, chuckled as he raised his hands in innocence, dropping the plastic toy-gun he held earlier.

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Riiiggghhhttt... anyways…" His co-worker laughed again as the taller dude began to approach his cubicle. "Quoi de neuf, dude?"

"Ehhhh… couci-couça, I guess," Zack shrugged in indifference. "Je prends un break right now. Et toi?"

"Just took my five-minute break right now," Cloud replied as he began to enter data from the stack of paper on his desk into the system.

"Heh, looks like you've got the hang of software and stuff," Zack offhandedly remarked as he gazed towards the nearby window, a magnificent view of Downtown Montréal being present.

"Yeah, it seemed pretty easy and stuff," Cloud continued to type, while performing calculations on his calculator here and there.

"Well that's because you've got your training from the _master_ right here, haha," Zack smirked as he closed his eyes, nodding his head while pointing his thumbs at himself in a conceded fashion.

"Hah, yeah… right…" Cloud laughed as he nodded his head side to side at the nonsense Zack was speaking of. Before the battle of wits was able to continue, the telephone rang on the blonde's desk, prompting him to pick it up. "Allô, la Banque de Montréal. C'est Cloud Strife parlant."

"Wow, I'm impressed with your French, _Cloudy_," Zack clicked his tongue as he pointed towards the blonde, though receiving a gesture to keep it down so that the Strife was able to hear whoever was speaking on the phone. "Qui c'est?"

"C'est notre superviseur, Monsieur Malfroid…" Cloud replied to Zack while placing a hand on the receiver. Who the blonde was referring to was their supervisor, Mr. Sephiroth Malfroid.

"M. Malfroid? Mais pourquoi?" Zack had a look of concern on his face.

"I don't know!" the blonde harshly whispered towards the Fair. "D'accord, M. Malfroid. J'y vais…" Cloud put the phone back to the base after his call had ended. Sighing, he got up from his seat and began to make his way towards the elevators.

"Où vas-tu?" Zack began to follow Cloud. "Where are you going?"

"Sephiroth wants me at his office…" A countenance of anxiety began to wash over the blonde, just as any employee would be when summoned to their boss or supervisor's office.

"But why?" Zack to became worried as they entered inside the elevator, making their way to the fourteenth-floor. "You haven't done anything wrong… right?"

"Of course not!" Cloud answered defensively, causing his co-worker to flinch a bit. "Sorry about that, dude."

"No worries, dude. I'm more worried about you, though…" Zack spoke with a concerned tone as they stepped off the elevator, making their way towards the double doors that had the affixed label _Sephiroth F. Malfroid _on it.

_Ugh… what could I do to deserve this? I hope to God that I'm not getting fired… I've only been here for a few weeks! And I know I haven't done anything wrong! _

"I'll wait for you out here, Cloud…" Zack patted the blonde on the shoulder. "Bonne chance. Hope it's nothing serious"

"Thanks…" Cloud nodded, reaching for the brass doorknob on the door.

_Well… here goes nothing…_

—

* * *

_**Don't forget to review, =) **_

—

* * *

_**The Usual Translations **_

**Mais que si**— but yes (as mentioned in a previous chapter, _si _can also be used as _yes _but in reference to a negated question being asked and giving a response in the affirmative as a result).

**Et alors**— And so

**Désolé****(e) **– sorry

**Mignon**** – **cute

**Couci-couça**** – **so and so

**Tu sais**** – **you know (_tu_ conjugation of the verb _savoir_ – to know)

**Notre – **our

**Malfroid **(pr. _mal_**—**_fwah_)** – **a play on the words bad (_mal_) and cold (_froid_). I used this as Sephiroth's surname reflecting his personality in the FF games.

**M. **– Mr. (this is an abbreviation for the word _monsieur_, or mister. This is the case on how we use _Mr._ as an abbreviation for the latter)

**Ce samedi**** – **this Saturday

**Bonne chance – **good luck


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